Back November 23rd, 2013

Gyula Rochlitz, architect of Budapest’s busiest railway station, the Keleti railway station made plans for several other buildings for the Hungarian State Railways. A lot of foreign tourist visiting Hungary arrive at the Keleti railway station; annually not less than half a million passengers purchase tickets at the international cash-desk.
Gyula Rochlitz was born in 1827 in Eperjes. He studied architecture in Vienna, and later started to work in Pest. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 he served as a private, after a while he attained the rank of captain, and after the end of the revolution he immigrated to Western Europe. After returning to Hungary he got a job at the railway construction directory of the Hungarian State Railways. He managed the most remarkable constructions of the company; took part in the erection of the directory building of the Hungarian State Railways on Andrássy út, the Central station (now Keleti railway station) and the Railway-Connection Bridge. He died in 1886 in Budapest, he was buried in the Kerepesi Cemetery. In 1959 his memorian plaque was placed on the wall of the Keleti railway station.
His Most Important Work, the Main Hall of the Keleti Railway Station
In 1883 the idea of a new railway station arose because of the enlarging rate of passenger transport. The station was built between 1881 and 1884; originally it was called Central station, it got its current name of Keleti (Eastern) in 1892 because of the railway lines running towards Transylvania and the Balkan. The facility built in Eclectic style was one of the most modern railway stations in Europe of that time. The main hall was built by the plans of Gyula Rochlitz, and the atrium by those of Mór Than and János Feketeházy. On the roof of the 43-meter high building an allegoric group of statues stands created by Gyula Bezerédi, which was restored in 1990. Next to the gate statues of James Watt and George Stephenson, the inventor of the steam engine and the steam locomotive were erected. In World War II the railway station was damaged. In 1969 between the station and the newly-built Metro Line 2 a subway system was constructed. The cash-desk hall decorated with the murals of Károly Lotz and Mór Than was renewed in 2008.
Sources:
hu.wikipedia.orgfarm8.staticflickr.com