Antwerpen-Centraal, or Antwerp Central, is the main railway station of Antwerp and at the same time one of the largest in Belgium. Due to its unusual form, the Antwerp station is sometimes called the railway cathedral. In a survey of the American edition of Newsweek, Antwerpen-Centraal took fourth place among the most beautiful railway stations in the world.
Antwerpen-Centraal was created at the turn of the 19th and 20th century according to the design of Louis Delacenserie. It does not have one clear style - it is a mixture of various currents and architectural fashions. Delacenserie himself pointed to the Lucerne train station as well as the Roman Pantheon as a source of inspiration. The dome above the main hall of the station rises to a height of 75 m. The interior with columns, a coffered vault, fan-shaped windows and lots of gilding resembles sacred buildings.
The building turned out to be hardly functional. After World War II, even its demolition was considered. After obtaining the status of a monument in 1975, Antwerpen-Centraal was thoroughly restored and modernized.
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