It was a representative station on the railway route, which testified to the importance of Białystok The object of a varied shape, richly ornamented, modeled on Italian neoclassicism, an example of Tsarist imperial style.

Object’s history

The railway station building was completed around 1862, at thre time of opening the railway line leading from Warsaw to St. Petersburg via Białystok, Grodno and Vilnius. A year later, a line between Białystok and Królewiec was opened, and in 1886, a line with Baranowicze. The building was bombed during World War I, and in 1915 it was burned down by the retreating Russian troops. In 1919, the building was recunstructed according to the original design. In 1944, the railway station was burned down by the retreating German troops. it was rebuilt in 1946-1949 , in the years 1989-2003 it underwent a largre scale modernization.

Description of the object

The station is located along the railway tracks in the western part of the city, at Kolejowa (Railway) Street.

The building refers to the Italian Neo-Renaissance style, it was modeled on brick-made Russian stations.

It is a detached building, on a floor plan of an elongated rectangle, with avant-corps and with a basement. Brick-made, on a stone foundation, plastered, steel roof, mono-pitched roof. Over the eastern avant-corps, hipped roof covered with a sheet. A rectangular shape, two-storey in avant-corps and in the central part. The central main hall in the form of a cuboid, with a small avant-corps at the axis of the entrance, topped with an attic and volutes. In the portal of the main entrance, a metal roofing was recreated with a gable roof supported on metal columns. The main front elevation on the side of the square is multi-axial, asymmetrical, on a plinth, in the central part bossaged on the lower floor, semicircular headed rectangular windows. Main entrance framed by columns. Windows orf the avant-corps on the western side rectangular, a small tympanum above the entrance, the lower storey is bossaged, the upper storey is crowned with a cornice. Two-story rectangular body on the western side joined by a single-storey connecor to the western avant-corps. Windows in the western avant-corps in the lower storey are arched, with bands and bossaging, in the upper storey - rectangular. Repeated cornice of a single-storey connector, additionally a cornice under the windows of the upper storey. The elevation from the side of the platforms is similar to the front elevation from the side of the square. The gable elevation on the south-western side is fitted two arched windows. There is one rectangular window in the upper storey, a cornice under and above the upper storey window. The gable north-eastern elevation is similar. The interior of the main hall on the ground floor is used as a waiting room and the place for ticket counters, a restaurant, technical premises, toilets and service rooms, and fan-shaped stairs around a glass rotunda lead to the first floor with stores and cafeterias Contemporary parquets on the ground floor. The columns supporting the first floor ceiling are covered with ceramic mosaic, the coffered ceiling is plastered.

Accessibility of the object for visitors: the object is in use, accessible.

Author of the note: Grażyna Rogala, 10 December 2014

Bibliography

• Dolistowska M., W poszukiwaniu tożsamości miasta. Architektura i urbanistyka Białegostoku w latach 1795-1939, Białystok 2009, pp. 177-179.
• Wiśniewski T., Białystok w starej pocztówce, Białystok 1990, il. pp. 39-45.
• Straczyński K., Architektura murowanych dworców kolejowych w województwie podlaskim [in:] Biuletyn Konserwatorski Województwa Podlaskiego (Conservation Bulletin of Podlasie Province) No. 19, Białystok 2013, pp. 139-143, il. pp. 140, 141, 142.