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Kuala Lumpur's Old Train Station

One of Kuala Lumpur's gems is its old railway station.
Neo-Moorish, Mughal and Indo-saracenic styles blend together in harmony, resulting in a fabulous Indian palace-like building.

The train station was opened in 1886 and was designed by Arthur Benison Hubback from Britain.

It was rebuilt in 1910 and electrified in 1995.

Today, it is one of the main attractions of Kuala Lumpur. Don't miss it!

During my visit in June 2011, it was still a fully functioning train station. I didn't see many foreigners taking the time to visit it.

Architecturally, the building bears a beautiful mix of the Neo-Moorish, Mughal and Indo-saracenic architectural styles.

Neo-Moorish is the modern variant of the Moorish style, which is so well-represented in Spain's Andalucia region.

Do you know how the Mughal style looks like?

Think of the Taj Mahal. That's a fine (probably the best!) representative of Mughal.

Mughal can be found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and it's considered an amalgam of Islamic, Persian and Indian architecture.
Mughal dates back to the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries.

As for the Indo-Saracenic style: it was created by British architects in the late 19th century in British-ruled India. It blends European and Indian architectural styles. Readon why, some called it Indo-Gothic or Hindu-Gothic.

Of course, this was the first train station of Kuala Lumpur.

Still (at the time of my visit) known as Kuala Lumpur Railway Station

The 4 tracks of this old station weren't enough for the intense rail traffic, so the new KL Sentral station was therefore constructed (which is not far away from the old one), inaugurated in 2001. Rather new station, planned to be fully completed by 2015.

I first caught a glimpse of the Old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station from the LRT, as I was riding from KL Sentral to Masjid Jamek (arriving from the airport).

It was a breathtaking view to pass the beautiful white building's towers... Which looks so alluring it could rival palaces.

This alluring building turned out to be one of my favourites in the whole of Kuala Lumpur.

There's quite intense road traffic near it and lots of large plants, trees covering the view, so I walked a bit around it. I couldn't find better viewing angles then what you can see on the photographs.

I would have liked to make better photos, but this was the best I could with the camera that I had back then and with those lighting conditions.

Hope it serves the purpose of showing how beautiful the train station is.

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