The Railway Station
Another structure on our route is visible from Střelniční street, namely The Railway Station Nádražní street
The Koąice–Bohumin railway service was the shortest connection between Hungary and Germany; it linked Budapest, through Slovak Koąice and Bohumin in Cieszyn Silesia with Berlin. In 1869 the line was brought to Cieszyn, and the first building of the train station was put into use two years later. After building the line ‘The Railway of the Silesian Towns’ between Kojetín and Bielsko in 1889 a new station (still here today) came into being. It is a brick building in the neo-renaissance style, comprising three pavillions that are linked with each other by means of galleries. Inside the fine hall of the railway station, embellished with stucco work, and a restaurant have been preserved.
The railway played an enormous role in the development of Cieszyn on the left bank of the Olza as well the economic development of the whole region. Through the station went vast quantities of commodities; among other things coal from the Ostrava- Karviná Coal Basin was transported to Hungary, Slovakian iron ore to Silesia and agricultural products - to Germany. A great number of travellers passed through this place, especially from Galicia and Hungary through Berlin and Hamburg to America. Also at the station Emperor Franz Joseph I was greeted during his trip to Cieszyn. Until today the renovated Cieszyn train station has constituted an important regional rail hub.
Photographs: Dominik Dubiel, Paweł Halama, Daniel Hryciuk, Magdalena Jańczuk, Renata Karpińska, Mariusz Makowski, Joanna Rzepka-Dziedzic, Anna Szostok-Fedrizzi, Henryk Tesarczyk
Translation from Polish: Lucyna Krzanowska and John Whitewood
Reproductions of exhibits, documents and photographs from the collections of:
- Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn,
- Cieszyn Historical Library,
- Cieszyn Branch of the State Archive in Katowice,
- Cieszyn Town Council,
- Museum of Beskidy in Frýdek-Mistek,
- private collection of Mariusz Makowski
- H. Wawreczka, J. Spyra, M. Makowski, ‘Cieszyn i Czeski Cieszyn na starych widokówkach i fotografiach’, WART, Nebory 1999