Antwerpen-Centraal
Antwerpen-Centraal is Antwerp’s Central Railway Station and is very accurately dubbed The Railway Cathedral. This iconic landmark of Antwerp is something that you cannot easily miss out on since it is a fully functioning central rail station connecting the city with the rest of the Belgian & European cities, so there’s a great possibility that you’ll get to see it if you planned for a day tour close to Antwerp.
The architectural masterpiece that was built between 1895 & 1905 is one of the world’s most impressive terminals with a series of movies using it as a backdrop setting. This amazing building with the huge glass vault & the massive dome is lavishly decorated. More than 20 different kinds of marble & stone adorn its interiors & exteriors.
The stone terminus building, with the impressive dome above the waiting hall (75 meters high), was designed by Louis Delacenserie, a Belgian architect from Bruges. On the special request of King Leopold II, Delacenserie used the station of Luzern (Switzerland) and the Pantheon (Rome, Italy) as his source of inspiration. The train shed (185 meters long & 44 meters high) was engineered by Clement van Bogaert. It is built out of steel and glass.
The station is without a question an ideal first impression of the city if you are lucky enough to arrive in Antwerp via train. In any case, it is one of the most striking railway stations in the world and is surely worth a visit.
The Central Railway station of Antwerp lies in the Diamond District. Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world & the epicenter of the city’s industry is this particular district. A mosaic of different nationalities intermingles negotiating vast amounts of money & diamond transactions with the diamond merchants & jewelers that operate in this civic habitat since the mid-15th century.
Even if you don’t plan a purchase of the most precious mineral in the modern world, it is a unique experience to take a walk at a place where everything revolves around it and take a glimpse of some of the most skilled craftsmen cutting, polishing and assembling diamonds into beautiful works of art that worth a fortune.
