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Estonia lists railway station buildings of Narva, Valga as cultural monuments

BC, Tallinn, 21.09.2017.Print version
Minister of Culture Indrek Saar on September 20th added the railway station buildings of Narva and Valga, outstanding examples of Stalinist architecture in Estonia, to the list of cultural monuments, informs LETA/BNS.

The main buildings of the railway stations of Narva and Valga are very representative and architecturally valuable railway station buildings completed in the Stalinist style, spokespeople for the Ministry of Culture said.

 

Liina Janes, adviser on heritage conservation at the ministry, said it is important that also outstanding examples of Estonia's newest architecture, or architecture of the 20th century, were represented among cultural monuments in a balanced manner.

 

"Especially the second half of the 20th century, or postwar architecture, is little represented among monuments. While it may seem that there are many buildings of the Soviet period around us, very little of the architecture of that era has been preserved," Janes said.

 

Both the railway station of Valga, built in 1949, and the main building of the railway station of Narva, dating from 1953, exemplify the history of Narva and Valga as important railway towns. Both buildings have been preserved largely in their authentic form, with a richly decorated exterior. Inside the building of the railway station of Valga also the original interior has been largely preserved.

 

The proposal to declare the two buildings cultural monuments follows a survey of 20th century architecture carried out in 2007-2012, in the course of which buildings dating from 1870 to 1991 across Estonia were charted. Of the charted items a panel of experts shortlisted 130 items as the most valuable and best representing the heritage of 20th century architecture. As regards 114 of these a proposal was made to declare them cultural monuments.

 

The railway station buildings of Valga and Narva are both being used for their original purpose.

 

Altogether 32 main buildings of railway stations have been declared cultural monuments in Estonia so far.






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