Thursday, December 09, 2010

Katowice Railway Station

Some of you might wonder why I keep going back to Katowice Railway Station.
Well. below's an explanation - by someone else:

The Plastic Fork of Katowice

"Brute from Katowice
They call me Brute from Katowice. At first sight I seem to be rough and unpleasant, but I have a soul of a poet. My days are numbered – I’m waiting for execution of death sentence. Unfortunately people didn’t appreciate me. I’m a railway station…

I was born in Katowice, Poland on the 4th of December, 1971. Then I was considered to be the most progressive railway station in the country. Unfortunately many people keep reminding me of the fact that it was the time of PRL (Polish People's Republic) and try to put stereotypical opinions into others head, for example such a drivel like I am a socialist building! That’s not true! I am a work of a late modernism, an example of Brutalism. I add immodestly that I am regarded as a masterpiece and rarity of architecture. There is no other like me in Poland and I have only a few brothers all over the world, but they weren’t built with such a flourish. I had a few fathers - Three Tigers – the famous Warsaw architects Waclaw Klyszewski, Jerzy Mokrzynski and Eugeniusz Wierzbicki, and I also owe a lot of genius engineer Waclaw Zalewski. Secretly my father is Felix Candela, who invented the mushroom alias umbrella structure. Among my forefathers is also the largest of the great - Le Corbusier, who gave the ground for Brutalism. This is after him I have a rough skin – texture of a bare concrete. For a while I'm gone. Nothing lasts forever; even a stone can turn to fluff. But maybe you mention me sometimes..."

So this is why I keep going back. If you want to go too, I must warn you it's too late. They are improving the place beyond repair, but with a much higher Return on Investment.

I have my own photos, but here are hers first.

You can find my photos here.

6 comments:

Anne-Marie said...

What a shame that companies do not always appreciate the beauty of the original structures they purchase. Beautiful that you have captured all of this.

xx
AM

Koos F said...

Thank you Anne-Marie for your heartfelt words. I myself don't know much about what is beautiful and what's not. The first time I arrived in Katowice a fellow passenger on the bus said this was the ugliest railway station on earth. I had high expectations about it's gloominess. I wasn't disappointed. Now it's time to say goodbye. So be it. It was great knowing the place.

grace said...

seems Corporate does not care about originality anymore. It's all about progress. We should be savoring and holding onto the beautiful past.
Thank goodness for photography

String said...

I like art that is not necessarily beautiful, but evokes an energy. Nice one!

Anne-Marie said...

My definition of beauty is rather simple- it's whatever stirs your heart, and yes, sometimes things that appear ugly can work themselves into objects of great beauty if you respond to them.

xx
AM

E.L. Wisty said...

I was going to comment on the black & white set and the railway station on Facebook but it threw up one of the bugs, claiming I was not authorized to post a comment.

What I was trying to say there is that this place indeed has a stern beauty that the black and white set and the text perfectly bring out.