Stockholm Metro Art Gallery – Stockholm, Sweden - Atlas Obscura

Stockholm Metro Art Gallery

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

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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.

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