Cherbourg's Gare Maritime or Gare Maritime Transatlantique was a railway station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 at the end of the railway line

Rail tracks

The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...

 from Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

' Gare Saint-Lazare

Gare Saint-Lazare

Paris Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord, handling 274,000 passengers each day.-History:...

 and of the short branch from Cherbourg's main station

Gare de Cherbourg

Gare de Cherbourg is the railway station of the city of Cherbourg, France. It is the western terminus of the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway....

.

Measurements

The complex consisted of the transatlantic hall, a two storey building through which passengers boarded cruise ships using nine footbridges, as well as with a plethora of amenities:

• Passenger concourse
• Post office
• Offices of each cruise company.

The hall is 240m long and constitutes the bulk of the complex, thirty four concrete arches carrying the copper and glass rooftop.

As the station is 93m wide, it was at the time of building the second largest construction in France after Palace of Versailles

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....

 and covered 2 hectares. As well as the size of the construction mentioned, a 70m tall clock tower was built.

Along the hall was a 500m long covered gallery used for embarquement and disembarquement of passengers.

The station was divided in two parts and on the transatlantique side; two ships could berth and empty a thousand passengers into the station in an hour. Railway side, up to seven trains a day would take passengers to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 3½ hours.

History

The station building was designed by René Levavasseur and inaugurated by the President of the French Republic

President of the French Republic

The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....

 Albert Lebrun

Albert Lebrun

Albert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...

 on 30 July 1933.

Gare Maritime saw intense activity during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as well as during the 1950s and 60s although partially destroyed in 1944.

The buildings were listed in December 1989 and constitute the last surviving example of 1930s maritime architecture.

In 1996, an architectural competition was organised to create a naval museum instead of the railway station. A project, respecting the original building, was adopted in 1997 and the work began in 1999.

The Cité de la Mer

Cité de la mer

The Cité de la Mer is a maritime museum in Cherbourg, France.The museum is in the cruise terminal of Cherbourg. This monument was built in 1933; it is one of the bigger art-deco monuments of today....

 museum was opened in April 2002.

In 2006, a cruise terminal were inaugurated : Cherbourg is becoming a big cruise port of call. In 2008 and 2009, Constellation, Celebrity Summit, Queen Mary 2, Costa Victoria

Costa Victoria

Costa Victoria is a Sky class cruise ship owned and operated by Costa Cruises. She debuted in 1996 and was refurbished in 2004. She was designed to reflect the spirit of Italy. Features include the panoramic Concorde Plaza, an indoor pool, the ultramodern Pompei Spa, and the seven deck Planetarium...

, Jewel of the Seas

Jewel of the Seas

The MS Jewel of the Seas is a cruise ship belonging to Royal Caribbean's Radiance class. The ship was completed in the spring of 2004 with her maiden voyage in May of that year. She is one of Royal Caribbean International's newest cruise ships and has the highest percent of outside cabins in the...

, Voyager of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

MS Voyager of the Seas, is a Voyager-class cruise ship, completed in 1999, for Royal Caribbean International. She is the namesake of Voyager-class ships....

, Century, Maasdam, Independence of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

MS Independence of the Seas is a operated by the Royal Caribbean cruise line that entered service in April 2008. The 15-deck ship can accommodate 4,370 passengers served by 1,360 crew. She was built in the Aker Finnyards drydock in Turku, Finland, builder of Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the...

, Queen Victoria will do a call at this harbour.

In the Hamburg seatrade 2007, Cherbourg has become the award of the best port of call of the year.