België: Antwerpen-Centraal

Antwerpen-Centraal (Antwerp Central) is the name of the main railway station in Antwerp. The original station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905; it replaced the wooden train station from the mid 19th century.

The stone clad terminus buildings were designed by the Bruges architect L. Delacenserie. It has a huge dome above the waiting room and eight smaller towers of which six were demolished during the 1950s. Fortunately they were reconstructed in 2009 together with several ornaments, including large lion statues. The rich interior is lavishly decorated with more than twenty different kinds of marble and stone.

Nowadays the railway station is considered being the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium. In 2009 the American magazine “Newsweek” judged Antwerpen-Centraal the world's fourth greatest train station. Five years later it was awarded by the British-American magazine “Mashable” with the first place for the most beautiful railway station in the world.