Subway Art

Subway stations are usually designed in a clean and modernistic style in order to make people forget they are traveling deep underground. It is different in the subway system in Stockholm, Sweden though. It features art installations in almost every station. The city’s 100 stations feature art by almost 140 artists and it is often called the world’s longest art gallery. Several of the stations (especially on the Blue Line) are left with the bedrock exposed, crude and unfinished, or as part of the decorations. At Rissne, an informative wall fresco about the history of Earth’s civilizations runs along both sides of the platform. The station features a massive mural painted on the cavern like ceiling that exposes the rocky core of the city.



The Bund sightseeing tunnel located in Shanghai, China isn’t technically a subway system but rather a short distance transporter. This has to be one of the most surreal, psychedelic and fun forms of public transport. The Tunnel connects East Nanjin Rd on the Bund, and Pudong near the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, running under the Huangpu River. It’s a psychedelic trip in a glass capsule along the 647 m flashing tunnel. Along the way the rider is bombarded with lighting effects, music and special effects that turn the ride into something out of this world.



The Komsomolskaya station of the Moscow Metro is the most famous of all those on the Koltsevaya Line and of the whole system, and an icon of Moscow itself. It is located on Moscow’s busiest transport hub, Komsomolskaya Square, which serves three railway terminals: Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky and Kazansky. The design was built in the 1930’s and features large chandeliers, vaulted plaster ceilings and arched walkways. The classical design of the space gives the station a palatial feeling, not something you see in most subways. It was opened on 30 January, 1952, as part of the second stage of the Ring line.