The Bieniakonie railroad station, Belarus

The town of Bieniakonie is in today's Belarus, not far from the border with Lithuania. In the interwar period from its small railroad station one could take a train to Vilnius or Lida. The station building, whose architecture is modeled on the characteristic shape of a Polish noble manor house with a hip roof, was built during the Second Polish Republic.
The young state’s planned, multi-stage effort was directed at the reconstruction of the country after the devastation of World War I and the partitions period. The expansion of the railroad network was one of the priorities at the time. From three different partitioning states the Second Polish Republic inherited three different rail systems, poorly connected with each other. Along with the expansion and modernization of tracks and technical equipment, a network of new railroad stations was being built.
Railroad stations were built according to several typical designs, which differed in scale and decorative details. These stations, a great number of which were built in the Eastern Territories, shared a "national" or "Polish" character and were to fulfill an important political and social role. The stylization of the station buildings to resemble a Polish manor house was dictated by the idea of emphasizing the Polishness of the country reborn after the partitions. It was also an attempt to consciously shape the "typical landscape" of the Republic, creating showpieces for cities and towns located along the railroads.

Projects of POLONIKA Institute
- 2018-2023 - Program RESEARCH - research on the history of railroads in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic