In 1898 the villages on the outskirts of Žilina came together to build a railway track to Rajec. On this track a platform and a small ticket office, later named Žilina-Záriečie, were constructed. In 1942 the space around Stanica was used as a base from which to dispatch more than 18,000 Slovak Jews to concentration camps.

In 1945 the ticket office was replaced by the building we use today and in lived in by the newly married couple, Mr and Mrs M. They both worked for the railway and had five children. They kept animals next to the track and fruit trees in the garden. Their cherries were well-known throughout the town, in fact, people used to steal them. Flowers bloomed and trains drove beneath the windows, tooting in the morning to awake the children for school. The M. family was known by many passengers and the station was open for everyone to use.

Years passed and everything changed. The trees in the garden died and the station house fell into complete disrepair. In the 1980s the circular overpass, Rondel, was built, engulfing the station in a mesh of roads.
The M. family grew old, moved away and finally died at more than 90-years old.

In 1998 Marek Adamov, Robo Blasko, Hana Luksu and others created an organisation to advance culture in Žilina. It was called Truc sphérique. On March 28th, 2002 Marek Adamov and his father were driving around Žilina searching for a location in which to fulfil the dream of building a cultural centre to house this organisation. They found Stanica Žilina-Záriečie.

In September 2002, the building was rented to Truc sphérique by the Slovak National Railways, in 2003 the contract for 30 years was signed. In September 2003, Stanica Open Cultural Space opened and slowly with progressing reconstruction works more and more cultural activities occupied the space. In 2004, the Stanica project was awarded the annual prize Enlargement of the Mind by the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam and Stanica became member of Trans Europe Halles network.

And the story goes on…