Finland Station
The Finnish railway station (also of Finnish railway station; Russian Финляндский вокзал ) is a railway terminus and one of the five main railway stations in St Petersburg. It is located on Lenin Square ( Площадь Ленина ), north of the center of the city on the Vyborg side, and originally served the railway connection of the then Russian Duchy of Finland, with its capital at Helsingfors the capital of the Russian Empire.
History
With the construction of the railway to Helsinki in 1862 started, and they were only completed in 1870, because the design proved to be very difficult, as the trail leads you through forests, swamps and rocks. Comes also the first station building, which was by the St. Petersburg architect Peter Kupinski ( Пётр Купинский ) designed and built in stone from 1870. Before there was only a nondescript wooden building at this point. The interiors of the rooms of the new building, the Finnish architect V. Vestling and P. Degener were employed. The station was on one level, had no architectural ornaments and was rather modest in comparison to the other Petersburg train stations. He was referred to as unsightly in accordance with the spirit of the times. Even the halls of the Tsar's family, who were the only two stories, had a spartan appearance. The facilities for the travelers were small, but functional.
Beginning of the 20th century were the tracks of the Finnish railway reconstructed. The level of the track was lifted up to five meters above the streets in order to prevent obstruction of the road traffic. On 4.jul. / April 17 1917greg. Lenin returned to the Finland Station from exile ( Switzerland, Germany ). In whose memory a monument of the founder of the Soviet Union was founded in 1926 on the station forecourt built by the sculptor SA Yevseyev ( С.А. Евсеев ) and the architect WA Schtschuko ( В.А. Щуко ) and WG Helfreich ( В.Г. Гельфрейх ) had been designed. 1957 was the city of Leningrad, the steam locomotive No. 293, were riding on the Lenin of Finland as a gift. There she was at a junkyard and should be melted down. Later, however, it was restored and is a museum piece in a glass pavilion at the output to the platforms. The rock group butterflies published in the seventies, the Jalava song, which is about the return of Lenin to Finland with this locomotive and became a classic in many songbooks.
During the blockade of Leningrad (1941-1944) the Finnish station played a special role, because all other stations were cut off from the hinterland. On February 7, 1943, here on the first train with food. To commemorate 1973, the milestones of the 36 -kilometer route were prepared on the Lake Ladoga at the station. The supply of the city functioned only in winter over the ice of the lake.
After the demolition of the historic building of the Finnish railway station in 1950 was completely rebuilt. By architect PA Aschastin ( П.А. Ашастин ), NW Baranov ( Н.В. Баранов ) and JN Lukin ( Я.Н. Лукин ) and the engineer IA Rybin ( И.А. Рыбин ) was a new building designed which is turned towards the Neva, is the metro station Ploshchad Lenina ( Площадь Ленина ) is integrated. Inside the new building allegorical reliefs were attached which had been designed by students of the School of Art. In 1960, the new station building was ready for use.
Presence
From the Finland Station today operate almost exclusively suburban trains in northern and north-western direction (eg to Vyborg ). Long-distance trains to Helsinki run partly by the Finland Station, part of the newly formed Ladoga Station.