Wuppertal-Barmen station is a station in the city of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

on the

Elberfeld–Dortmund railway The Elberfeld–Dortmund railway is a major railway in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is part of a major axis for long distance and regional rail services between Wuppertal and Cologne, and is served by Intercity Express, InterCit ...

. Its entrance building is protected as a monument. It was ''Barmen Hauptbahnhof'' prior to

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

's incorporation in Wuppertal in 1929. Before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was an important stop for express trains and had substantial freight traffic. Its importance declined after the war in favour of Oberbarmen and since the renaming of the Elberfeld station as

Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof (German for Wuppertal main rail station) is a railway station in the city of Wuppertal, just south of the Ruhr Area, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the line between Düsseldorf/Cologne and Dortmund. ...

. The

Opernhaus Wuppertal Opernhaus Wuppertal (Wuppertal Opera House) is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance perfo ...

is nearby.

Entrance Building

The building is a rectangular construction of

Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...

stone in neoclassical style, with

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and arched windows. Originally it had projecting wings at each end with

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

, but since the war only the western one is preserved. This portal wing is topped by a flat triangular tympanum and has tall rectangular windows and

oculi An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's- ...

in the panels below the beams. In the tympanum there is a small semi-circular window. The central axis is adorned by a clock, with the letters of "Wuppertal-Barmen" replacing the numbers.

History

The first station building was opened with the Elberfeld–Dortmund line as Barmen station by the

Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company (german: Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, BME), also referred to as the Berg-Mark Railway Company or, more rarely, as the Bergisch-Markische Railway Company, was a German railway company that togethe ...

on 9 October 1847. In 1905 the station's name was changed to Barmen Hauptbahnhof. The first building, which was a little to the east of the current building was demolished.

Relocation and construction of the new station building

Construction of the current, only partly preserved, station building at Winklerstraße started in October 1911 and it was opened for the public on 10 October 1913. The plans of the building were drafted by the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n architect Rüdell Alexander, who worked in a leading position in the railway department of the Prussian Ministry of Public Works. The construction was directed by the government architect, Johannes Ziertmann and Edward Behne of the railway division (german: Eisenbahndirektion) of Elberfeld. The building was badly damaged in the Second World War. The station building became a listed building on 1 July 1988.

Current operations

The station Wuppertal-Barmen is currently served by the following passenger services:

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * {{cite book , author= WSW mobil Gmb, ÖPNV Systemmanagement , title= Wuppertal timetable 2009/10 , publisher= ECO-Druck GmbH , location= Wuppertal , year= 2009 , language=German Railway stations in Wuppertal Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn stations S7 (Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn) S8 (Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn) S9 (Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn) Railway stations in Germany opened in 1847 1847 establishments in Prussia Neoclassical architecture in Germany