Ten of the world’s most beautiful railway stations

BBC Culture

Where are the world's most stunning railways stations?

Architecture critic Jonathan Glancey chooses his favourite train stops, from Grand Central in New York City to Lahore, Pakistan:

www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131203-all-aboard-stunning-stations/1

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Kazan Station, Moscow

The restaurant in Moscow’s Kazan station has never quite matched that of the Gare de Lyon for the sheer quality of meals on offer, but its riotous Rococo ceiling is hard to beat, an architectural dessert seemingly whipped up in a kitchen rather than drawn to plan in a studio. Kazan is the Russian city’s biggest station. Here, comfortable overnight trains, many still equipped with kitchen cars where fresh food is prepared and cooked, menus changing down the line according to what’s available from local markets, disappear across the boundless steppes to Rostov-on-Don, Tashkent and Yekaterinburg and Kazan itself.
The architecture of the station itself is a decidedly rich and spicy dish served up by Alexey Shchusev, who worked for the Tsars and Stalin alike. An expert in local Russian historical styles, he fused many of these together in the design of Kazan station: here you can find Art Nouveau details dancing with architectural motifs drawn from the Kremlin as well as elements from Kazan itself, the capital of Tatarstan after which the Moscow terminus is named. Such was the richness of the structure and decoration, the station was not completed until 1940. Shchusev also designed the stunning Komsomolskaya Moscow Metro station complete with a lavish 17th Century-style interior. Here, as with Kazan station was architecture seemingly good enough to eat – or at least a feast for the eyes of a Tsar or Communist dictator. (Corbis)