Vostok (Minsk Metro)
Encyclopedia
Vostok is a Minsk Metro
Minsk Metro
The Minsk Metro is a rapid-transit system that serves Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Opened in 1984, it presently consists of 2 lines and 25 stations totaling 30.3 kilometres...

 station. Opened on December 30, 1986.

The station's name not only implies its geographical location, as it was the easternmost station of Minsk metro for more than 20 years, but also its connotation with the Vostok space programme
Vostok programme
The Vostok programme was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth's orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft from the Zenit spy satellite project and adapted the Vostok rocket from an existing ICBM design...

 that ultimately led to the first manned spaceflight. The station's architectural ensemble (Ye.Leonovich, V.Matelsky) is based on the latter, and consists of a single vault shape with suspended canopy that forms a single element. The canopy simultaneously acts as a blind from the lamps, and also contains the lighting elements which are focused on the apex of the white vault. This "petal" layout is reminiscent of the interior of a spaceship with illuminator windows: contrasting with that is the dark red and grey granite on the walls and the floor.

The station is located near the National Library of Belarus and the residential microrayon Vostok-1 and -2. Its two underground vestibules are interlinked with subways that are located on both sides of the Independence avenue. From 1986-2007 the station was the terminus of the line and it received quite a lot of passenger traffic from commuters that travelled from the northeast. However this ended when in 2007 the extension to Borisovsky Trakt and Uruchye was finished.

External links

Minsk State Committee - Station description Minskoye Metro - Station description
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