Kassel Main Station - a combination of architecture a century apart

 

The Kasssel Hauptbahnhof in Germany was built in 1851-1856 to designs by the Hessian architect Gottlob Engelhard in the style of Romantic Classicism. From the beginning of the 20th century it was  extended through renovations and extensions. During WW2 the station building was badly damaged by bombing. From 1952 to 1960 it was rebuilt in the style of the 1950s, while retaining and restoring some parts of the original.

The Kassel main station was conceived as a terminal station. Until WW2 it was an important regional transportation hub oriented mainly for east-west rail traffic. After the formation of the Iron Curtain, the traffic now was mainly in the north-south direction via Bebra. The opening of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed line and the reunification didn't change this, because the new route does not touch the station and instead led to the building of a new railway station, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. The latter has the significance of a main station relegating the original to a local traffic station.

In 1995 the station was rebuilt and is now a "Kulturbahnhof" (culture station). Besides art galleries, architecture and gastronomy a centre was created for "comic art", where the Caricatura is located, and two cinemas. In addition, the media center Offener Kanal Kassel has its studios in the building.