Wikipedia
Khreshchatyk (;) is the main street of Kiev, Ukraine. The street has a length of 1.2 km. It stretches from the European Square (northeast) through the Maidan and to Bessarabska Square (southwest) where the Besarabsky Market is located. Along the street are located buildings of the Kiev City Administration which contains both the city's council and the state administration, the Main Post Office, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting, the Central Department Store (TsUM), the Besarabka Market, the Ukrainian House, and others.
The entire street was completely destroyed during World War II by the retreating Red Army troops and rebuilt in the neo-classical style of post-war Stalinist architecture. Among prominent buildings that did not survive were the Kiev City Duma, the Kiev Stock Exchange, Hotel Natsional, the Ginzburg House. The street has been significantly renovated during the modern period of Ukraine's independence. Today, the street is still significant to administrative and business city organizations, as well as a popular tourist attraction.
As of 2010, Khreshchatyk is included in the Top 20 of most expensive shopping streets in Europe.
Khreshchatyk is a station on the Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line of the Kiev Metro. The station is named for the Khreshchatyk street, the most central street in Kiev. The station was opened in 1960 along with the first stage of the Metro. The station is pylon trivault (architects Yu.Tyahno and I.Maslenkov) that features ceramic Ukrainian ornaments framed by metallic grills on the central hall sides of the pylons. White marble is used elsewhere, particularly for the walls and the main pylon frames. The ceiling is covered in white plaster and lighting comes from hidden lamps in the niches of the central vault and a central row of lamps.
In 1976 the station became the first transfer point in the system to the newly opened Kurenivsko-Chervonoarmiyska Line's Maidan Nezalezhnosti then called Ploshcha Kalinina but soon renamed to Ploshcha Zhovtnevoi Revolyutsii. The stations are connected side to side with staircases and an escalator. The original corridor, however, proved to be too short and unable to cope with rising passenger traffics and in 1986 a second, longer corridor connected the opposite sides of the stations allowing traffic to be diverted. In the future the longer corridor is planned to be fitted with travelator, speeding up the passenger flow in the longer corridor.
The station has two vestibules, the first one is built into a restaurant building (now occupied by a shop) on the Khreshchatyk street itself. The second one was opened in 1963 (replacing a large coat of arms of the Ukrainian SSR) and is located on the corner of Instituska and Horodetska streets.
Behind the station is a set of reversal sidings that continue as a single track service branch into the Kurenivsko-Chervonoarmiyska Line and the Syretsko-Pecherska Line. This is the main artery that is used for interline transit between depots and lines. As well as for nighttime stands.