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There▓s gonna be a certain party at the station...

Vitebsk Railway Station in St.Petersburg is a magnificent sample of the Russian Art Nouveau architecture. In 2001√2003, a full scale reconstruction was undertaken including restoring of the cupola, painting, original facade windows, sculptured decorative patterns, marble gala staircase and other architectural elements of original architectural design. The Station is also important for the Russian railways history.

On August 1904, the ceremony of consecration of the new railway station building of the Moscow-Windawa-Rybinsk Railroad and of starting the regular passenger traffic via the new line from this terminal to Vitebsk was opened. At 2.00 p.m., a gala church service was conducted in the 3rd Class Waiting Hall decorated with tropical plants.

The Vitebsky Railway Station platforms appearace. Early 20th century [zoom (92k)]

After the service and consecration of the terminal buildings the champagne was served. Acting Minister, Myasoedov-Ivanov, proposed the first toast to the health of the Tzar, the Tzarina and the newborn Heir to the Throne. Loud ╚Hurrah!╩ filled the hall and the choir of the Semenovsky Regiment of the Imperial Guard sang the national anthem.

Approximately this place was occupied by a small wooden end station of the first Russian railroad connecting St.Petersburg and the summer imperial residence in Tsarskoye Selo. In the late 1840-s, early 1850-s, the new building was constructed there according to the project of the famous Russian architect, K.Thon. In 1900, it was decided to construct on this site the station of the St Petersburg-Vitebsk line, being a part of the Moscow-Windawa-Rybinsk Railroad. The imperial connection with Tsarskoye Selo from an adjacent terminal was to be continued.

The Station was erected on the site of the Semenovsky Regiment of the Imperial Guard barracks, which were partially demolished and partially reconstructed to serve as auxiliarly buildings of the terminal and housing some administration departments of the Moscow-Windawa-Rybinsk Railway.

The Station building, executed in the Art Nouveau Style is a magnificent example of the Russian architecture of the early 20th century. The main facade, overlooking Zagorodny Avenue, is divided in three parts. A watchtower with a flagpole is located on the left hand of the two-storey building. It features the figures of owls looking down at the passengers. The frontispiece of the building is decorated with huge half-circular windows and bas-reliefs.

All the railroad operations were performed on the 1st (ground) floor of the Central Building. There, the tickets were sold and the luggage was handled. The passenger platforms were located higher on the 2nd floor. The flow of the luggage carts had not to hinder the flow of the passengers boarding the train, so it was organized via a tunnel on the ground floor. At the end point of the tunnel there was a lift raising the luggage to the cargo railroad car of a train.

The Vitebsky Railway Station characteristic feature was in the rails running up to the second floor. That▓s why the central hall having the size of more than one hundred and fifty square meters covered by a huge cupola had a height of eighteen meters. The wide staircase ascending in one flight from the entrance to the Station separates in two ways: the left way leads to the platform, the right to the Higher Classes (business class) Hall. The marble staircase features a wooden handrail propped on bronze consoles. At the basement of the staircase two electric candelabras from black painted cast iron stands on marble drums. The colors of the walls, bronze details and other accessories match between them.

Leningrad. Detskoye Selo Railway Station. Postcard (number of copies 5 thousand). Moscow. 1920-s [zoom (72k)]

The daylight falls through the windows into the vestibule from the all directions. The sidewall windows consist of three bays each filled by color glasses set in iron tracery. The piers are decorated with Hermes heads with crossed emblems of trading. Beneath the side windows sculptured panels featuring woman▓s heads and stylized flower ornament are presented. In the tympani of the bays and vaults two painted panels presenting one opposite another. One of them presents the general view of St.Petersburg from the top of St.Isaac. Another panel featured the view of the quay in the town of Odessa, an end point of the railroad (the sketches by painters, Bystrenin and Dudin won the first prizes in the panel sketches contest).

The Emperor Nicholas I bust on a high pedestal of red porphyry was mounted on the grounds before the entrance to the station. Following signs were placed on the marble plates on the sides of the pedestal: ╚The first railroad in Russia ≈ Tsarskoselskaya (the one between St.Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo, a summer imperial residence), was launched in the time of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, on 30 October 1837╩ and ╚The St.Petersburg-Vitebskaya Railroad (between St.Petersburg and the town of Vitebsk in Byelorussia) was opened during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, on 1 August 1904╩. The coats of arms of St.Petersburg and Vitebsk ≈ the end points of the railway line, were placed above the business class rooms entrance.

The Higher Classes (the 1st and the 2nd classes) Rooms are of particular interest from the artistic point of view. The interior details and metallic decoration are worth of particular interest. Big scale paintings and sculptures fully comply with the Art Nouveau Style.

The Higher Classes Waiting Hall (the so-called ╚Painting Hall╩) is decorated with five panels featuring images of stations in St.Petersburg, Pavlovsk and Tsarskoye Selo in different periods. Part of them were executed by a famous painter, N. Samokish. In course of the restoration of the Hall, devoted to the 125th anniversary of the railroad, two more paintings were placed on the opposite wall, presenting the images of the stations in Leningrad and Detskoye Selo (former Tsarskoye Selo) in the 1950-s.

Above the side door leading to the platform, a stucco panel with the railroad initials MVR is located. The Hall was illuminated by arc lamps and wall-bracket lamps. One can observe here the device for chandelier lifting produced by Siemens in the early 20th century.

The green tone of the stylish furniture with leather upholstery matched the color of the walls of the Higher Classes Hall. Adjacent to the Higher Classes Waiting Hall is the Buffet. Its walls are covered with characteristic painting. Just below the ceiling there is a red frieze covered with blue shields and yellow water lilies. The arches are painted in the same style with the peacock images above the pillars. The blind wall is covered by a big carved wooden buffet with a chest. Ther was a little cabinet in the Moorish style located near it.

The Buffet was connected with the Serving Room and the Kitchen by means of a lift with a chest for the served dishes. The Kitchen was located on the upper floor above the buffet, in order that kitchen reek not to disturb the passengers. The Kitchen was equipped with a huge stove and grill for roasting beef with automatically rotating roasting jacks.

Cargo lift. Early 20th century [zoom (95k)]

On the channel side of the building the special entrance led to a small and isolated ╚room for imperial persons╩ ≈ the Grand Prince Pavilion. It included a small salon decorated in the Renaissance style with the proper furniture and paintings of pastoral character and a lavatory. The marble fireplace of the salon was inherited from the old bulding of the station, according to a sign on its side.

In the period of the after-revolution reforms, the Emperor▓s bust was replaced by a Lenin▓s statue. Afterwards, a huge statue of Lenin was placed in the Light Hall. The Terminal of Imperial Trains also was reconstructed, and later, the railroad line piece reaching the Grand Prince Pavilion was dismantled. In 1987, the year of celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Railroad, a facility was mounted afore the Pavilion, housing the copy of the locomotive ╚Nimble╩ with some cars of the old Tsarskoye Selo railroad.

The passenger train traffic from the Vitebsk Station stopped only in the days of the Blockade. In this period, armored military trains hided under the station roof from German reconnaissance airplanes. These trains used the building of the Station as a base for their operations.

After the USSR collapse, the amount of the international railroad traffic dropped. It led to bringing the Warsaw Railway Station out of operation. Now the main bulk of the trains heading to foreign lands depart mainly from the Vitebsk Station. For more than a hundred years▓ period, the Vitebsk Railway Station is not only one of the city▓s major stations, but also a beautiful piece of the early 20th century architecture. Today, again, as a hundred years ago, the passengers ascend on the staircase leading to the Higher Classes Rooms and observe the bust of the Emperor-initiator of the Russian railroad construction.