Avtovo

As far as I know, this is the only metro station in Saint-Petersburg, which structurally lacks hermetic doors. I suspect, because the initial design of the station, still pre-war, was created before the appearance of nuclear weapons, and the design of the station now does not allow to mount hermetic doors anywhere.

The station is named for its location in the historical district of Petersburg - Avtovo. It is not only the most beautiful metro station in Petersburg, but also one of the 12 most beautiful stations in the world.

Pay attention to the voice informant in the carriage in the video below.

For a long time, the station was the final one, right behind it is the metro depot TCh-1 Avtovo & TCh-2 Dachnoye. Therefore, many trains, especially in the evening, do not go further than this station, leaving for the depot. There is even a special sign at the station about this, once it even worked.

It is interesting that this sign was not removed even when the station was undergoing major repairs and it was practically all sorted out piece by piece.

The lighting at the station has changed several times in its history. Therefore, pictures taken in different eras give a different color gamut. Unless they are deliberately brought to a single white balance. But we will deliberately not bring them to a single white balance in order to more clearly show the difference.

The construction of the station and adjacent stretches began in the winter of 1940/41, but was stopped with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. The mine was flooded. Construction was resumed only at the end of 1946.

The theme of the station is the defense of Leningrad / Petrograd. During the war, this area of the city was the front line of the city's defense, it was perfectly visible by the Germans through binoculars from the commanding heights. At the end of the station hall there is a mosaic panel "Victory". Also known as "Motherland".

The ventilation grilles on one of the walls are also beautifully styled.

Interestingly, during a major overhaul, one of the grilles was removed and a powerful ventilation hood was taken out behind it.

But without it, of course, it's better :)

The main and most famous highlight of the station are the columns. There are 46 of them - 30 marble and 16 glass.

But not all columns are round in plan: at the entrance to the station, the ceiling is supported by two square columns.

According to the initial project, it was assumed that all the columns would be glass, and the lighting from the inside would be mounted on them. It would be incredibly cool in general, even in our time. But unfortunately, the contractor did not cope with the task, barely having time to cover some of the columns for the delivery of the station. The rest were temporarily covered with marble, and then the freak Khrushchev adopted his infamous decree banning architectural excesses, and the project remained unfinished.

The trick of glass columns is that the angle between the inner edges of the glazing is 80 degrees, and light is reflected from them without reaching the concrete core of the column. Thus, from the outside, the concrete inside the column is practically invisible, and there is a feeling of a solid glass structure. Eh, the backlight would...

This station was in many ways the first. The first train in the Leningrad metro arrived at this station. This station was the first to be built with the technology of soil freezing - because of the nearby river and aquifers. This station was the first and for a long time the only subway station in Leningrad, shallow, without escalators and even without turnstiles (appeared much later).

At the southern end of the station, you can see an intersection and a double-track connecting branch to the depot TCh-1 Avtovo & TCh-2 Dachnoye. Late in the evening here you can sometimes see all sorts of funny little animals, like this motor car on the chassis of a ZIL-130 truck. A gasoline engine roared hoarsely, left behind a cloud of gray smoke and disappeared into the tunnel.

And what kind of magic lamps are there guys!!!

In general, the station strikes with a fantastic depth of elaboration of every detail.

Until the last plafond.

Down to the last little ventilation grill.

The beauty of the stairs is also incredible. Nowhere else in Petersburg there are such.

In the vestibule, in a circle of the central dome, there is an inscription "Glory for centuries to the valiant defenders of Leningrad, who defended the hero-city in battles". Initially, there was an inscription "Glory to the Great Stalin". But, in principle, a worthy replacement. Not ashamed.

A rare case when the ground lobby is no worse than the underground station hall.

From the outside, the station building looks modest, but very respectful. Initially, it was supposed to be a temple dedicated to the defenders of the Fatherland.

Let's go back underground. During the overhaul of the station, it was very interesting to see how and what is done with each of its elements.

Let's walk through the ticket office hall.

Let's go down the steps to the hall.

Nice here.

A couple more details.

Before the renovation in the spring of 2011, Avtovo was also one of the "tiled" stations - with white tiles on the track walls. But in 2011, the lining of the track walls was changed to noble marble. Also, after the repair, the station lighting was changed from white to yellow. And then - back. So we have three different colors here all the time.

From Avtovo station to station Kirovsky Zavod there are tunnels with a diameter of not 5.5 meters, like other tunnels of the first stage, but 6 meters, like in Moscow. "Reducing the diameter made it possible to save on finishing up to 1500 tons of pig iron per 1 kilometer of track".

A large flow of ground passenger transport is tied to the Avtovo metro station. In addition to city buses, trolleybuses and trams (in the distance), there are many minibuses to the southwestern suburbs of Petersburg, especially to Peterhof and Lomonosov.

Also very close is the Avtovo freight railway station, which is widely known in narrow circles, but that's another story ;)

If you are in Saint-Petersburg, be sure to visit this place. Top-5. You will not regret :)