It has retained its authentic spatial layout from the period of its establishment, consisting of a passenger station, a goods and marshalling yard, a complex connected with the movement and operation of trains and a technical line for the operation of several steam locomotives. It presents historical architectural and technical solutions from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Noteworthy are the well-preserved two fan-shaped railway depots from 1888 and 1908-1909, a locomotive repair hall with a workshop wing and chimney from 1941, a water tower from 1906, a water crane, a wagon repair workshop from 1941, a boiler room from 1941-42, a dispatch room of the railway depot, a sand drying room, and a “Gn-A” control room from 1911, one of only two such facilities in Poland.

History of the structure

In 1872, the first railroad line was built through Gniezno, leading from Poznań through Janikowo Dolne, Trzemeszno, Mogilno, Inowrocław and further to Toruń or Bydgoszcz. The next one was established in 1875 and connected Gniezno via Września and Jarocin with Oleśnica near Wrocław. Other lines were established in 1883 to Nakło nad Notecią via Mieleszyn, Janowiec, Damasławek and Kcynia, in 1913 to Sława Wielkopolska via Kłecko and Kiszkowo. In 1884 a narrow-gauge railroad line was completed, which was originally used to transport sugar beets. The first section, 18 kilometres long, led to Odrowąż. In 1895 it was converted into a commercial and passenger line, and in 1918 it was extended to Anastazewo.

The complex of buildings of the railroad station in Gniezno was created in the period from 1872 to the 1940s. Initially, there were two separate stations, which were joined together in 1884. The first station, the Upper Silesian station, which was used for departures towards Poznań, Toruń and Bydgoszcz, was opened in May 1872 and stood on the site of today’s Main Railway Station. The second, non-existent, station, the so-called Oleśnica station, from which people could travel to Września, Jarocin and Oleśnica, was located in the area of today’s steam locomotive depot. The railroad infrastructure of Gniezno station was realized by Górnośląskie Towarzystwo Kolejowe (Upper Silesian Railway Company), then by Towarzystwo Kolei Oleśnicko - Gnieźnieńskiej (Oleśnica - Gniezno Railway Company), which after nationalization, became the property of Prussian State Railways from 1884 to 1919. From this period comes the first fan-shaped railway depot building built in 1888-1894, which was modernized several times, in 1914, 1939-41 and 1963. The dormitory building from 1898 -1899 rebuilt in 1913-14 and 1941 and from 1871 - a house for railroad clerks at 21 Dworcowa Str. In the following years, until 1918, new buildings were built. The fan-shaped railway depot built at the turn of 1908/1909 (with a balanced turntable installed in 1910) was upgraded in 1941/42. In 1906 a water tower was built, in 1911 a control station, in the years 1906-1910 houses for workers at No. 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 17 Pocztowa Str. and a viaduct over the railroad line built between 1914 and 1918. In the interwar period, the station was administered and owned by the Polish State Railways with the Regional Directorate of State Railways in Poznań. In September 1939, the steam locomotive depot was bombed during air raids, and after reconstruction it was reduced by 5 locomotive repair stands. During World War II Gniezno station became the property of the German Reichsbahn and was included in the so-called “Otto Plan”, which provided for the modernization and expansion of the junction in connection with the planned German attack on the USSR. It was planned not only to increase the capacity, to extend the stabling tracks with a modern technical line for steam locomotive maintenance, but also to build facilities for repairing locomotives and wagons and to increase the number of stabling tracks for modern, large steam locomotives. In 1941, a large locomotive repair hall with a workshop wing and chimney, articulated turntable, wagon shifter, water crane, two inspection pits, a reserve clearing pit, two double-track clearing pits with basins, a sand dryer with equipment, locomotive sanding tower and a control room were built. A year later the dispatch room of the railway depot, a canteen with social rooms, a central heating boiler house, a diesel engine room with a transformer station and a wagon repair shop were built. After World War II, the station complex was owned by the Polish State Railways with administration in Poznań. As a result of restructuring carried out in 1989, the infrastructure of the station was divided between Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. managing the building of the control room, the tracks and the station area, Polskie Koleje Państwowe S.A. the company which became the owner of the remaining part of the facilities and PKP Nieruchomości S.A. In December 2009, the station complex in Gniezno located at Dworcowa and Składowa streets, the housing estate at Pocztowa street and the road viaduct were entered in the register of historic monuments. Currently, as a result of an agreement between PKP SA, Xcity Investment and the City of Gniezno, design work is underway to develop the area of the historic Gniezno station complex, including the PKP investment area, covering an area of 25 hectares. In June 2017 the Charrette Urban Workshops were carried out at the site by an architectural studio MAU Mycielski Architecture & Urbanism.

Description of the structure

The railway station complex is located in the southern part of Gniezno, away from the oldest part of the city. The junction brings together several important railway lines from Wrocław, Poznań and Jarocin. It consists of building and engineering structures dating back about 100 years. The spatial layout of the station is made up of three legible sub-complexes. The most characteristic complex is the architectural complex dominating the entire station, located between the ks. J. Popiełuszki road viaduct, the tracks and Składowa Street, which includes two fan-shaped railway depots from 1888 and from 1908-1909, with a balanced turntable from 1910 and an articulated turntable from 1941, a locomotive repair hall with a workshop wing and a chimney from 1941, a water tower from 1906, a water crane, a wagon repair workshop from 1941 with a wagon shifter and a warehouse, a boiler room from 1941-42, a wheel lathe building, and the “Gn-A” control room from 1911. Noteworthy is the building of the dispatch room of the railway depot from 1942 with a unique construction of reinforced concrete grate ceiling, supporting the head of the dispatch room. Buildings constructed of brick, unplastered, with elevations featuring a variety of architectural decoration. The architecture of the complex, characteristic of railroad buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shows great stylistic diversity, beginning with simplified historicism with neo-Gothic influences visible in the articulation of the fan-shaped hall with the workshop wing, Art Nouveau in the Gn-A control room and modernism in the steam engine repair hall, the workshop building next to the second fan-shaped hall, the canteen and the dispatch room. The partially preserved technical equipment presents a wealth of technical solutions in the field of railroad engineering. The second complex presents a technological sequence related to the operation of steam locomotives. It was adapted to the simultaneous operation of several steam locomotives. It consists of the last preserved coal gantry crane in Poland, a reinforced concrete coal basin, a two-track clearing pit with basins and a water crane, a two-track inspection pit, a reserve clearing pit, a sand pit building with a drying oven and a locomotive sanding tower.

Visitor access. The Gniezno railroad station complex can be viewed from the outside. The steam locomotive depot can be visited by prior telephone arrangement with Krzysztof Modrzejewski, president of the Gniezno Association of Railway Enthusiasts, which organizes the annual “Dni pary” [Days of Steam], a popular event in Gniezno. The Gniezno Narrow Gauge Railway, adjacent to the station, has been in the care of the Gniezno Lovers Society since 2003.

Compiled by: Radomiła Banach, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 03.11.2017

Bibliography

• Zabytkowa stacja kolejowa Gniezno, Miron Urbaniak, Łódź 2009
• Krajobraz z koleją Drogi żelazne Wielkopolski, Grażyna M. Balińska, Jerzy A. Baliński, Dorota Balińska, Wrocław 2011, pp. 196-7, 226.