Luz Station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Luz Station (Portuguese: Estação da Luz) is the common name for a train station in the Luz neighbourhood in São Paulo, Brazil. The station is part of the metropolitan rail system ran by the CPTM. The station is mostly notable for lodging the Museum of the Portuguese Language, established in 2006.
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[edit] History
The station was built in the late 19th century with the purpose of being the headquarters of the newly-founded São Paulo Railway. In the first decades of the 20th century, it was the main entrance to the city, a fact that gave it a major economic relevance, because the majority of the coffee from Santos was delivered in the station, along with the imported supplies.
The current building was finished in 1901 and was inspired on the Flinders Street Station, in Melbourne[citation needed], after being chosen in a British catalog. The materials for its construction were taken from England and the station was just assembled in São Paulo. The building was designed by the English architect Henry Driver.
In the 1940s, the station caught fire and during the rebuilding process, a new floor was added to the building. Since then, the rail transport in Brazil started to decline, the same happened with the Luz neighbourhood. Both facts led to the degradation of the station. However, in the 1990s, the station was repaired.
[edit] Cultural influence
The station is a remain from the period when the coffee was a major source of income to the city. For decades, the station tower dominated the city's skyline and its clock was the reference to the remaining clocks in São Paulo.
At its height, in the early 20th century, when the Luz neighbourhood was an important part of the city, the stations was part of an architectonic bloc that was a major reference inside the city. The station helped to build the city's image.
With the construction of the São Paulo Metro, during the 1970s, the monument to Ramos de Azevedo, a major landmark in the nearby zones, radically changed the image of the landscape, granting, however, a bigger monumentality to the station.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Jorge, Clóvis de Athayde. Luz – Notícias e reflexões. Departamento do Patrimônio Histórico. 1988
- Elias, Maria Beatriz de Campos (dir.). Um século de Luz. Editora Scipione. 2001
- Toledo, Benedito Lima de. São Paulo: Três cidades em um século. Editora Cosac e Naify. 2003.
