Marijampolė Railway Station, the first railway station built in independent Lithuania, is celebrating its centenary.
Marijampolė Railway Station was designed by the architect Edmund Alfonsas Frykas who called it a passenger house or a palace. Its construction started in 1923 and it was the first railway station built in the newly independent Republic of Lithuania.
It was also the first railway station designed by Frykas – he later followed up with stations in Rokiškis, Tauragė, Vilkaviškis and other buildings.
Marijampolė residents call their station the pearl of Lithuanian railways, and in 2018 it was voted the most beautiful station in the country.
The interior is spectacular too, complete with authentic ceramic tile floors. The station hosts exhibitions and educational activities.
“We work to organise activities for people to come and get to know each other, and we tried to make the space so cosy that the magic of the trains and the rails would fascinate people so that they could have a coffee here, hang out, read a book, do some handicrafts, or take part in a discussion evening,” says Ramona Šilerytė-Cvirkienė, head of the (Ki)tokia Stotis (Different Station) initiative.
Lithuanian Railways spokeswoman Džiuginta Daujotaitė says that the station must be alive. The plan is to exhibit the old passenger benches, suitcases, and other rare exhibits that were in use at the station in the 1920s and 30s.
“We will celebrate the centenary of the station throughout the year. We will have big concerts, various creative and artistic activities, plein-airs – we need to get to know the building we are celebrating,” says Daujotaitė.
“This building is very important from an architectural point of view. It is the historical heritage of the entire town, its growth, its development,” emphasises Artūras Visockis, deputy mayor of Marijampolė.
The building is already popular with tourists but the town hopes to make it even more celebrated as the very first railway station built in independent Lithuania.
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