Visiting Antwerp, Belgium – Part 2 –

Now I have the remaining buildings for you, as I proposed in my last post: the central station and the Stadtfeestzaal.

The Stadtfeestzaal was built in 1908 following the styles of the neoclassicism. I was used for exhibitions and other events. It is located in the middle of one of the most important shopping streets of Antwerp. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the building in 2000. After the reconstruction was finished, it is now used to be a luxury shopping center.

The central station was finished in 1905. It’s an replacement for the oder wooden train station. More and more traffic made it necessary, to build a bigger station. It’s kind of unusual style for a train station, thus is it also called as a ‘train cathedral’. It was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome as well as central station in Luzern, Switzerland. During the middle of the 20th century the building was in a bad shape, and there were considerations to remove it completely. But, luckily they decided to renovate it in 1993. Now, it’s a very impressive building again!

 

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