Train travel: No need to go far to admire the most beautiful station in the world

This year, UNESCO has designated and awarded the Versailles Prize to the most beautiful stations in the world. Created in 2015, the latter rewards the best architectural projects around the globe. Austria took first place with the Schafbergbahn station in Saint-Wolfgang. Overlooking Lake Wolfgangsee, it is Austria’s steepest railway, taking visitors on a journey through mountainous landscapes.

Here is the ranking of the five other most beautiful stations behind the Schafbergbahn.

The Bell Station project was born from the creative vision of Wood-Marsh Studio and is part of a new generation of elevated stations. The concrete facade, which pays homage to the listed dwellings in the surrounding area, is particularly remarkable.

In 1959, ten years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing Railway Station was built in traditional Chinese style, despite the limited resources available to architects and craftsmen.

In 1905, the architect Marius Toudoire explained that the Toulouse-Matabiau station, which he designed, would take the form of a new “palace”. More than a century later, contemporary architects have searched the archives to retrace the many phases of construction of the station. They were thus able to reproduce the building identically.

Each level of the Chiaia metro station in Naples has a different color and corresponds to a mythological deity. For example, the blue and white level, where there is a fountain twelve meters in diameter, is dedicated to Neptune, the god of the sea. The predominantly green one was created in honor of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, harvest and fertility. There you can admire reproductions of statues from the Farnese collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

The Grand Central Madison station is considered a technical feat by UNESCO. Highlights include digital artwork projected on giant LED screens, a permanent photo exhibition, concerts and state-of-the-art technical systems.

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