DESIGN / THE BEAUTY, ART & ARCHITECTURE OF STOCKHOLM’S REMARKABLE 100 SUBWAY STATIONS

What is this? If you say it’s Stockholm’s Stadshagen (blue line) metro subway station then you’re correct. Note that this photo by Iamaxime shows the station is painted with monotone stripes. 

COULD BE THE WORLD’S 

BIGGEST ART GALLERY 

Stockholm’s subway/station system (Tunnelbana: T-Bana) has been called the world’s longest art gallery, with more than 90 of the network’s 100 stations decorated with sculptures, mosaics, paintings, installations, engravings and relics of over 150 different artists.

GUEST BLOG / Photo Essay text by Business Insider’s Clinton Nguyen--If you ever plan to take a trip to Stockholm, Sweden's capital city, take note of the subways: they're works of art in and of themselves. 

The stations are hewn into the bedrock in a way that makes them feel organic. At the same time, the layers of paint and murals add man-made, artistic touches. It's a fantastic juxtaposition between rugged and ultra-refined. 

Stockholm's three main lines (blue, green, red) all began in 1941 and continued well into this century.

Here's a look at some of the city's amazing, cave-like subway stations: 

Radhuset station: Note the roughly carved, ochre-colored arc, juxtaposed with the perfectly smoothed concrete that supports the ceilings (blue line). 

 Swedish artist Ulrik Samuelson painted the murals that line the ceilings of the Kungsträdgården metro station in the 1970s. The station also holds relics and debris from buildings that were torn down during central Stockholm's reconstruction in the 1960s (blue line). 

 This blue mural showing vines and flowers is located in the T-Centralen station, arguably the city's most trafficked metro station with 330,000 passengers a day. 

Equally as vibrant, the Alby metro station is completely covered in a grass-like green color. The designs are inspired by local petroglyphs, or ancient stone carvings (red line). 

 This striking red emergency emergency exit passageway is built right into the Universitetet Metro station (red line). 

Five bands of this rainbow at Stadion station (red line) celebrate the 1912 Olympics held in Stockholm

Hornstull station shows brick tiling and mock fossils (red line).

Gamla Stan station. Geometric patterns on floor symbolize the Old Town’s location on an island where the freshwaters of Lake Malaren confluence with the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is built on an archipelago of 14 islands.

Ostermalmstorg station shows concrete tunnel wall with graffiti-style art ala prehistoric design (red line).

Karlaplan station with geometric design of colored patterned brick (red line).

Subway Construction, 1957, just north of today's T-Centralen station.

 The T-Centralen station's blue colors even stretch up the escalator shaft, adding to the sense that commuters might just be cave spelunking (T-Centralen station is accessed by all lines).