Chernivtsi Train Station, Chernivtsi

... two lost epochs. This is the first political one. The station is a testament to the achievements of a large empire in the development of peripheral regions. In 1866, Czernowitz was connected to Lviv by a railway line. It was thus connected to the 'Rest of the World', which at that time was identical to the KuK empire with the centres – Vienna, Prague, Budapest – for the mixture of peoples living in Czernowitz. The second epoch, also lost, is the industrial age; or more precisely: the mentality of the people in the 19th century with regard to their attitude to industry and technology. While the opening of this technical facility was celebrated with a folk festival, audience participation and enthusiasm at the opening of technical-industrial buildings is rather modest today. If historians speak today of the 19th century as the time of the construction of 'cathedrals of the industrial age' (and meant factories and factory facilities), the station of Czernowitz can certainly be included in this category of buildings. However, there is a specific aspect of industry here - namely rail transport. It therefore seems justified to call the station a 'cathedral of the railway age'. The similarities between railway stations and factory buildings in the 19th century are obvious. In both cases, one was not greedy with architecture on the object and also the dimensions in which the objects were created were gigantic. An outstanding example of this way of building is probably 'Grand Central' in New York. The population was sympathetic to these buildings. The reasons for this were not only utilitarian considerations (job creation; establishment of new trade routes with corresponding improvements in the standard of living of the residents), but it simply fascinated the splendour and the Gloria that these 'cathedrals' radiated and which gave the individual the feeling that he was now something 'better' and to have 'received' something from the grandeur of their rulers. Today the rulers are gone. The enthusiasm for technology is also gone. And trains no longer have the meaning they once had. While we visited the (huge) station, not a single train arrived or departed ... In general, the whole complex, even in front of the building, seemed rather surreal. Conclusion: An object that should be visited absolutely. There is a danger that these 'dinosaurs of past eras' will die out because a clever investor has 'optimization intentions'.

I saw only from the car entering the center, but the building impressive, somewhat similar to that in Lviv. I regret that I had no more time to look...