Sirkeci Railway Station

Sirkeci railway station is a historic terminal on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, built in 1890 by the Oriental Railway to serve as the eastern terminus of the Orient Express, the celebrated line that ran between Paris and Istanbul from 1883 to 2009. It was designed by the Prussian architect August Jasmund, who had been sent by the German government to study Ottoman architecture while teaching in Istanbul, and the roughly 1,200 square meter building is considered one of the most influential examples of European Orientalism, shaping later architects' designs. For its time the station was notably modern, fitted with gas lighting and Austrian tiled stoves for heating, and its restaurant became a well known meeting place for journalists and writers during the 1950s and 1960s.