Stockholm Metro Art Gallery – Stockholm, Sweden - Atlas Obscura
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Stockholm Metro Art Gallery

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm's decidedly unique public transit system has doubled as the world's longest art gallery for decades. 

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Tekniska Högskolans miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Tekniska Högskolans miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Tekniska Högskolans miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Colourful pillars Xavixavir (Atlas Obscura User)
Stockholm Metro Art Xavixavir (Atlas Obscura User)
Like a fairytale Klara (Atlas Obscura User)
Newton's apple at KTH station CoolCrab (Atlas Obscura User)
Radhuset station. tylercole (Atlas Obscura User)
Videogame theme Klara (Atlas Obscura User)
Retro pixel art at Thorildsplan metro station. Johan SWE (Atlas Obscura User)
Retro pixel art at Thorildsplan metro station. Johan SWE (Atlas Obscura User)
Retro pixel art at Thorildsplan metro station. Johan SWE (Atlas Obscura User)
Kungsträdgården miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Kungsträdgården miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Kungsträdgården miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Kungsträdgården miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
Kungsträdgården miluta (Atlas Obscura User)
1491
1999
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The Stockholm Metro has more than one hundred stations, and at least ninety of them have elaborate art installations as part of their status quo decor.

The subway system was created in 1941, and first opened for public use in 1950. The Metro has since grown to incorporate more than one hundred stations, only one of which is not in use. 

Travelling by subway in Stockholm is like being in a personal, mobile art  gallery that allows everyone in transit to experience the beauty of incredible mosaics, paintings, installations, and sculptures. It evokes feelings of being part of a modern-day archeological expedition, full of undiscovered secrets and surprises. The best part? Admission to this gallery costs nothing except for the train ticket, which has been extremely well-received by citizens of Sweden, as well as foreign visitors.

In the early 1980’s, an outbreak of graffiti and vandalism threatened the beauty and the safety of the unique artwork in a number of stations, but eventually the vandals took their art elsewhere, allowing the gallery to exist unfettered. During that time however, the government spent an exorbitant amount of money in order to protect the subway from desecration.

collections architectural oddities architecture
Nearby
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