Zurich Hauptbahnhof

Zurich Hauptbahnhof stands at the head of the Bahnhofstrasse in central Zurich, first opened in 1847 as the terminus of the Spanisch Brotli Bahn, Switzerland's first railway line, and rebuilt in its present neo-Renaissance form in 1871 to a design by the architect Jakob Friedrich Wanner. Its sandstone facade and richly decorated halls and atriums reflect the historicist taste of the period, and a statue of the railway pioneer Alfred Escher by the sculptor Richard Kissling stands on the square before the main entrance. As the largest railway station in Switzerland by both platform count and passenger volume, it handles thousands of train movements daily and serves as the hub of the country's dense rail network. Extensive underground shopping levels added in the late twentieth century have made it also one of Switzerland's busiest retail destinations.