of München Hauptbahnhof and the stations in Augsburg, Bamberg, Nördlingen, Nuremberg and Bad Kissingen. Construction started in 1863 and it was completed in 1869. The station building was an imposing building, which consisted of a two-story central hall, which was bounded by two raised side wings. On the ground floor the entire front of the central hall was composed of arcade-like archways, which gave access to the inside of the station. There were, in addition to a salon for the king, the usual facilities of a station at the time, such as waiting rooms for four classes, two restaurants, ticketing and baggage counter and several administrative offices. The rooms on the upper floor were used as apartments for the staff. The platforms were one level above the street level as they were built on an embankment. Therefore, in the middle of the entrance building, there was a staircase to the concourse supported by 14 marble columns. The railway tracks were built over a very large area. Sidings, locomotive and carriage maintenance shops and warehouses were built to the north of the platform area. To the east there were the facilities of the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway, which operated the Odenwald Railway towards Heidelberg, as it ran through Bavaria for only about 20 kilometres. Destruction during World War II and reconstruction Until shortly before the end of the Second World War people still living in Würzburg had the illusion that the city would be spared an air raid because no significant industry was located in the city and it had three hospitals. However, Würzburg had great importance for rail transport, the logistical backbone of German armaments. On 23 February 1945, during an air strike of the United States Army Air Force, which was actually directed at Bayreuth, a large part of the station area was destroyed or severely degraded by about 200 bombs. Although the only threat from Würzburg for the Allies had been eliminated and another attack seemed unlikely, starting on the evening of 16 March 1945 in England, about 230 four-engined Avro Lancaster bombers of the Royal Air Force flew to Würzburg. In this destruction, considered one of the most devastating in the war, about 5,000 people lost their lives. In addition, 90 percent of the buildings in the inner city were damaged, which made Würzburg one of the most devastated cities of World War II. The