Berlin's Hauptbahnhof

My sister and I traveled to Europe, landing in Frankfurt and then using the Rail system for getting from place to place. We went from Frankfurt to Berlin and got off at Berlin's Main Train station. This is an impressive glass building that cost $700 million Euros, or approximately $894 million to build. (I used a negative filter for effect.)

Hany Azer was the man in charge of building Berlin's new Central Station and had promised an unprecedented construction spectacle that both the media and locals wanted to see. The chief engineer and his crew had to lower two massive girder towers, weighing no less than 2,500 tons, across the glass vault of the station like a gigantic drawbridge. On 26 May 2006, the station was ceremonially opened. A "Symphony of Light" was performed immediately following the dedication. The station was operational May 28, 2006.

Just over 6 months later, two steel beams of the south-west façade were torn loose during European windstorm Kyrill. One of them, an 8.4 m long beam weighing 1.35 tons, dropped 40 meters onto a staircase below, and the other impacted and damaged a third beam. The station had suffered some flooding and had been evacuated due to the complete cancellation of train service in Germany. Consequently, nobody was injured and the station was cleared for reopening the following day. The beams had not been welded or bolted in place but laid down like shelves in a bookcase. In the next days extra lugs were welded to the remaining beams to secure them in place and the station declared stormproof on 23 January.

However, the locals have embellished this story and say that the beams fell during the opening ceremonies!