THE STORY OF A MASTERPIECE

Most of those who go to the train station to buy tickets do not even suspect that they are in one of the oldest architectural monuments of the city. Moreover, among all the office buildings which are still functioning, only the building of the Baku City Hall is older than our station.

Baku attraction

We are not talking about the boring Soviet building, which housed ticket offices and a hotel until recently, or the eastern "demotic" house of the 1930s overlooking the monument to Cafar Cabbarli, which now hosts a KFC restaurant and a few shops.

This beautiful building, located behind the building of the current station, was designed by renowned architect Khrisanf Vasilyev in a rare Moorish style. This was in 1882. Officially it was called the Tiflis station, as it connected Baku and Tbilisi (and Poti). Through it, train carrying passengers, goods and mail travelled to the Tiflis province and further into the centre of the empire. Although the previous Transcaucasian railway stations - those located in Tbilisi and Poti - were built ten years earlier, the Baku Railway Station turned out to be the most beautiful, a real architectural masterpiece.

There are only three floors here, and from the platform, the old station building looks quite modest. But it is enough to go to the station square, where buses stand now, and you can enjoy its beauty. At first, it is difficult to believe that this station has only three floors (only two can be seen from the facade). The height of ceilings in it reaches almost five metres, and the first floor is at a high rise, while from the top the building is crowned with a fairly massive loft. In addition, the facade and interior of the building are strikingly different from other similar buildings, and its columns are not just massive, but seem to be encrusted.

As soon as the train station appeared, it became a real sensation and was written about in magazines devoted to architecture, as well as in the local newspapers Bakinskiye Izvestiya and Kaspiy. People drew it, while Bakuvians themselves came to the building to take pictures.

The building was so well-liked in Moscow that the famous architect Petr Drittenpreys, who had created an image of a capital of the turn of centuries, arrived from there. He slightly supplemented the architecture, changed the shape of the roof and increased it, and replaced the pattern to one that corresponded to the single imperial style. Along with him, another legendary architect, this time from St. Petersburg, Aleksandr Bruni, decided to "experiment" on the building.

Well-known artists and architects also worked on the interior of the building. As a result, the station was decorated with magnificent stucco, frescoes and grand mosaic that covered the floor in one of the galleries. Like today, 150 years ago, the building looked like a one-story structure from the platform. But then the entrance to it was from the outside, from the side of the square.

Life began here

In those days, in addition to ticket offices, the building housed a post and telegraph offices. In those days, when there was no telephone or Internet, people who were in constant correspondence came here every day. Very quickly, during the first ten years of its existence (i.e. by 1893) the station became overgrown with restaurants and shops. In those same years, a beautiful park was built around it. Alas, it did not survive. At that time, a road surrounded by a thick wall of tall plane trees led to the entrance to the station. It was always crowded here. Horse-drawn trams carrying letters and parcels arrived here, people came to write telegrams here, they saw off and met people here. Here, at the beginning of the alley, carriages watched for customers. Poor people who sold baskets and flowers stood nearby.

Actually, it was the Tiflis station that became the cause of the first "shantytown" on this territory and contributed to the appearance of the then one-story "settlement behind the station". Merchants lived there, and the cheapest rooms in town were also rented out there to visitors who could not afford to stay in a hotel.

As the city grew, the Tiflis station was no longer able to cope with the flow of passengers. In 1930, the Sabuncu station (the one near the monument to Cabbarli) was built, the administrative apparatus of the railway moved into this new building, and in addition, it started to service commuter trains. In 1977, trouble happened to the old station, which was so loved by architects - it was closed, and a large, Soviet-style ugly grey concrete colossus grew beside it instead. The main trouble was not even the fact that the station was in this new building, but the fact that it completely blocked the view of the old architectural building.

That's why many in Baku do not even know about the existence of the Tiflis railway station.

The Tiflis railway station reminded us of itself this year. Many were surprised when, instead of the usual humid and dark building, they came here for the tickets and found themselves inside a real museum. In spring, CJSC Azerbaijan Railways started reconstructing the Soviet station building, and the old station, where international transport offices are now located, was opened for this period.

Once in the area, do not miss this building. Look at it carefully and you will see how its style is different from other buildings in Baku. Its construction and reconstruction involved world-famous architects and artists, complementing and enhancing this wonder of architecture. Oriental and European motifs, as well as features of Russian architecture typical of Moscow are harmoniously entwined in the old railway station. As a result, a rare and true masterpiece appeared.