Stockholm, Day 3 - A Subway tour

After we had put Linnea on the train and waved her off as she left the station, we immediately returned to the T-Centralen station to join a guided walk of the "longest art gallery in the world" - the subway system. During the summer there is a small team of licensed Stockholm tour guides who do guided tours on the different subway lines, a few times a week, for free! This day we were apparently an unusually big group.

The Stockholm Metro is one gigantic art gallery, 94 of the 100 underground stations feature artworks. Since 1957 more than 250 artists have played a key role when new stations have been built, and over time the older stations as well have been spruced up with statues, installations and murals. Most metro stations now have unique art either on the platform, the walls or in the waiting hall. The idea is to give you a new style and a new concept to explore at every station. It is like each station has its own personality!
On our way down into the subway system:

T-Centralen - by Per Olof Ultvedt, Signe Persson-Melin and Anders Östelin.
This was the first subway station built in Stockholm and the first where the concept of adding artwork to the subway began. All three of the subway lines go through the T-Centralen station so it's really a bustling place.

Kungsträdgården - by Ulrik Samuelson.
Here you'll find reclaimed pieces of sculpture from demolished buildings around Stockholm, embedded in the walls; together with mosaic decor telling tales of the history of the park above the station. It's meant to evoke an undergound garden, commemorating a royal palace and a French garden which once stood at street level here.

Obviously we only had time to visit a few of the subway stations on our tour, not all 94 of them! Tours were scheduled of different lines on different days, so these stations were what we got on our tour. Maybe I'll try one of the others next summer!

Rådhuset - Sigvard Olsson.
A kind of pink underground grotto, with various imaginary archeological findings.

 Stadshagen - by Lasse Lindqvist.

 

The Stockholm subway is way more than just a place to get on the train. Each and every station is a place of creativity, inspiration, colour and joy! Don't miss exploring it if you ever come to Stockholm.