Stockholm metro is considered the longest art exhibition in the world – 108 km long (according to Wikipedia). 90 of 100 metro stations are decorated with paintings, engravings mosaics, sculptures, reliefs and installations by over 150 artists. Sometimes even bedrock is exposed as part of decoration. Art creation in the metro started in the late 1950s as part of a new political ideology known as Folkhemmet or “The People’s Home,” led by the Swedish Social Democratic party.
Let me take you on my photo trip through Stockholm metro stations. The current blog post is about the following: Tekniska Högskolan, Stadion, Rådhuset and T-Centralen (blue line only).
Tekniska Högskolan metro station
The name of Tekniska Högskolan station refers to the nearby Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska högskolan), the largest polytechnic university in Sweden and one of the biggest in Scandinavia.
The artistic decoration of the metro station was made by Lennart Mörk. The theme is the four classical elements – fire, air, water and earth – and the laws of nature. The strange thing on the top of the wall is called dodecahedron.
Hint: click on a photo to fit your screen, thus it's much more comfortable to watch vertical shots.
Stadion metro station
“Stadion” in Swedish is “stadium” which is located right to the metro station. Authors of the artistic decoration are Ake Pallarp and Enno Hallek. The rainbow colors represent the five rings of the Olympic movement.
Rådhuset metro station
This metro station was created by Sigvard Olsson as a pink grotto. The station is named after The Court House (Rådhuset) right above the surface and is close to The City Hall (Stadshuset). The station uses organic architecture which leaves the bedrock exposed and unsculptured. Thus we can see the real nature underground.
T-Centralen metro station (the blue line, walkway to the green and red lines)
T-Centralen is Swedish for “The T-Central”. “T” stands for “tunnelbana” which means “metro” in Swedish. This station is the heart of Stockholm metro system. It is the only station where all three metro lines meet. The station also leads to Stockholm Central Station where you can take national, regional or commuter trains, as well as long-distance buses.
This time in January I’ve photographed just a part of T-Centralen that belongs to the blue line and a walkway that connects the blue line with the green and red lines. Next time I’m out for shooting metro stations I’ll take pictures of other parts of T-Centralen.
