Vokzalnaya Square, Vladivostok (must see)

Vokzalnaya Square serves as the main gateway between the railway, the harbour, and the historic centre. Its importance began with the arrival of the Trans-Siberian Railway, when the original station became a symbol of Russia’s reach to the Pacific. In 1891, Tsarevich Nicholas, the future Emperor Nicholas II, took part in the station’s foundation ceremony, reportedly pushing a wheelbarrow of soil to mark the start of construction.

The present station building, expanded in 1912, was designed to echo the western terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Built with grey granite sandstone from Russky Island, it links local materials with imperial-era architectural ambition. Inside, traces of earlier layers survive, including old Japanese flagstone flooring and large ceiling murals from the Soviet period, later restored after being hidden for decades.

The square also preserves strong Soviet associations. The Lenin monument, unveiled here in 1930, was cast from the same model used for the well-known 1927 Lenin statue near the Smolny Institute in Saint Petersburg. Its survival gives the square a layered character, where imperial railway symbolism, Soviet political imagery, and daily urban movement all remain visible in one compact space.

Nearby, the 9,288-kilometre marker identifies the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway, using a form that recalls old imperial milestones. Close to it stands the restored YeA-3306 steam locomotive, built in 1944 by the American Locomotive Company and supplied to the Soviet Union through the wartime Lend-Lease programme. Together, the station, marker, locomotive, and monuments make the square a concise introduction to rail travel, wartime memory, and the city’s role as Russia’s Pacific gateway.