In Kyiv, they intend to rename several metro stations. To do this, the metropolitan metro has created an open Google form, in which 170,000 people have already made their choice. However, not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance.
So, the station “Heroiv Dnipro” can become “Heroes of Ukraine”, “Minskaya” – “Varshavskaya”, “Beresteyskaya” – “Buchanskaya”, and “Leo Tolstoy Square” – “named after Vasyl Stus”.
This is stated on May 12 in “Breakfast with 1 + 1” .
It is noted that in this case all three factors act: de-Russification, electronic popular voting and patriotic names. However, in reality, not everything is so clear. Changes to toponyms should be approached by experts, because the names of metro stations should be closely related to the names of streets and objects nearby.
So, a striking example is the metro station “Minskaya”, where the Minsk massif stands nearby. They are going to rename it to “Varshavskaya”, however, it turns out that there is also a Varshavsky massif in Kyiv, but it is located 6 kilometers from this metro station.
In addition, voting took place through an open Google form, where it is impossible to verify the person who voted. Therefore, it was an international vote in which people from all over the world could participate.
Vitaliy Selik, head of the Kyiv Urban Council, emphasizes that metro stations in the city are the most important facilities. They allow people to navigate, understand where to go, and even inspire and name entire areas.
“In order to name them (metro stations – ed.), you need to involve a wide range of experts. Not only Kiev experts or historians, but also lawyers, philologists, perhaps even poets and artists. If there are two or three solutions, only in this case should be put to the vote of the citizens,” Selik says.
The urbanist emphasizes that, according to the current regulation, a metro station can be named after a person only if there is a geographical object nearby. As in the case of the metro station “Leo Tolstoy Square” – there is the square itself nearby. Therefore, in case of renaming the metro station, the square itself will have to be renamed.
“Currently, the expert circle is already in discussion with the deputies who will directly vote, and with the members of the commission on renaming, so that the expert process can begin and each station name can be approached separately,” Selik said.
According to him, it is most likely that the names of the stations will be different. And even if the deputies vote, they will have to be changed and “brought in order” in 2-3 years.
Recall that earlier the metro administration offered the public to fill out a special questionnaire called “De-Russification of the Kiev Metro”. It gave a brief note on why the old station names should be changed.
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