Rolandseck station

Rolandseck station in Rolandseck near Remagen, Germany, built from 1856 to 1858, is considered an important part of the cultural heritage of the Rhineland and a significant early Germany railway building. It is the northernmost railway station on the West Rhine Railway in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Bonn–Cologne Railway Company extended its line from Cologne to Bonn on 15 February 1844. In 1846, the company had requested permission from the Prussian government to extend the line to Rolandseck, but had been refused for military reasons. Finally in 1853, the Prussian Cabinet gave it provisional permission to extend the line as far as Rolandseck. The new terminus should have been as close as possible to the Rhine, in order to cater for comfortable transfers to steam ships. The supervising engineer for the building of the railway line also produced the sketches for the Rolandseck station, which was set out in such a way that the terminus of the line could hold company meetings, because at this time the Rolandseck area, together with Rolandswerther, was the epitome of Rhineland romanticism. Construction started in 1856 and was finished in 1858. It became the meeting place for society. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Kaiser William, Otto von Bismarck, Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Uhland, Karl Simrock, the Brothers Grimm and Friedrich Nietzsche went there, as well as the musicians Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann and Franz Liszt. Bernhard Shaw wrote about the station and Guillaume Apollinaire wrote some of his early poems here. There were many celebrations and concerts in the old station.

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