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kanyiko — Antwerp Central Station Hall
#antwerp #architecture #central #hall #station
Published: 2016-01-03 21:09:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 468; Favourites: 32; Downloads: 4
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Description
Antwerp Central Station, January 3rd 2016.A quick shot while trying to catch my train. The station hall of the Central Station (1905) looks so much better ever since it has been restored...
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Comments: 22
Inkomhal van de andere kant bekeken/entrance hall seen from the other side:
Art by erhansasmaz .
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Yes, it's a most wonderful building - and it's horrifying to think that it was nearly demolished in the 1970s... @_@
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Wow! How do you go to all there amazing places all the time?! And what happaned to the building back then?
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It's my home-station. :3
Antwerp Central Station was lucky in many aspects. It came out of the First and Second World Wars almost undamaged; however in the 1950s most of these classic stations were demolished to make way for "modern" stations - the list of stations destroyed because of that drive for modernity is almost endless.
In the 1970s, the death blow was nearly struck, when it was discovered that the stone used to build the station was beginning to disintegrate, and the train shed was suffering of subsidence. However, the station was given a listed status just in time, and as result it was restored rather than demolished and rebuilt - even though some of its features were lost over time (most notably the large fan-shaped window over the drawing offices, which was replaced for full-face windows in the 1960s; and the two iron spires either side of the shed entrance, which were progressively demolished between the 1950s and 1980s due to severe corrosion issues, and which were not rebuilt when the shed itself was restored.
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Wow. Thanks for the story. You should add that to your description :3
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I know, it sure is!
And it's improved so much more since they completely restored it - before the restoration, they had a photo kiosk in the middle of the hall, and the ticket offices themselves were housed in container-like constructions which had been placed in front of those beautiful arch-like doors...
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That sounds exactly like Zurich main station some decades ago
They all seem to come up with the same bad solutions on how to use the old station hall when it is too small for the number of station tracks.
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... Virtually a Railway Cathedral! ... Elegant! ...
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I still discover new details every time I am there.
Of course, it helps that the building has been completely restored since I first came there...
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