Antwerpen-Centraal (Antwerp Central) is the name of the main
railway station in the
Belgian city of
Antwerp. The station is operated by the national railway company
NMBS.
History and architecture
The original station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905 as a replacement for the original terminus of the Brussels-Mechelen-Antwerp Railway. The stone clad terminus buildings, with a vast dome above the waiting room hall were designed by
Louis Delacenserie and the vast (185 metres long and 44 metres high) iron and glass trainshed by
Clement van Bogaert. The viaduct into the station is also a notable structure designed by local architect
Jan Van Asperen.
The station is now widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium, although the extraordinary eclecticism of the influences on Delacenserie's design had led to a difficulty in assigning it to a particular architectural style. In
W. G. Sebald's novel
Austerlitz an ability to appreciate the full range of the styles that might have influenced Delacensiere is used to demonstrate the brilliance of the fictional architectural historian who is the novel's
protagonist.
In 2009 the American magazine
Newsweek judged Antwerpen-Centraal the world's fourth greatest train station.Jaime Cunningham, ,
Newsweek, New York, 10 January 2009.
Expansion for high-speed trains
In 1998 large-scale reconstruction work began to convert the station from a terminus to a through station. A new...
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