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Description

Location: Hua Lamphong, Bangkok, Thailand

“You must never stay at the station where you feel unhappy! Unhappiness combined with inaction always creates deeper unhappiness
The solution is very simple: Leave the station; trust the motion because only motion will take you to the new stations!”
- Mehmet Murat

While trains are no longer the preferred travel mode, they were once the mark of modernization, innovation, luxury, and connectivity. So much so that engineers and architects often raced to build the grandest of train stations. Today, one often finds the most beautiful architecture at the central railway stations and the chance to be thrown back in time simply by strolling through the buildings or even better, taking a train trip out of them. Hua Lamphong is Bangkok’s grand railway station located in eastern edge of Chinatown.

The railway station’s story of origin was that King Rama V, while on a trip to Germany in 1907, became enamored with Frankfurt Train Station. Following that, the construction of Hua Lamphong was ordered. Built in 1916, Hua Lamphong was designed by Italian duo Mario Tamagno and Annibale Rigotti. The station is of Italian Neo-Renaissance style, clearly seen from balustruding, arcades, and certain opulent decorative features. The defining feature of the station, however, is the half dome front, held up inside by vaulted iron roof.

Description

Location: Hua Lamphong, Bangkok, Thailand

“You must never stay at the station where you feel unhappy! Unhappiness combined with inaction always creates deeper unhappiness
The solution is very simple: Leave the station; trust the motion because only motion will take you to the new stations!”
- Mehmet Murat

While trains are no longer the preferred travel mode, they were once the mark of modernization, innovation, luxury, and connectivity. So much so that engineers and architects often raced to build the grandest of train stations. Today, one often finds the most beautiful architecture at the central railway stations and the chance to be thrown back in time simply by strolling through the buildings or even better, taking a train trip out of them. Hua Lamphong is Bangkok’s grand railway station located in eastern edge of Chinatown.

The railway station’s story of origin was that King Rama V, while on a trip to Germany in 1907, became enamored with Frankfurt Train Station. Following that, the construction of Hua Lamphong was ordered. Built in 1916, Hua Lamphong was designed by Italian duo Mario Tamagno and Annibale Rigotti. The station is of Italian Neo-Renaissance style, clearly seen from balustruding, arcades, and certain opulent decorative features. The defining feature of the station, however, is the half dome front, held up inside by vaulted iron roof.