Stadion subway station

Each year Östermalms IP serves as the main festival area for the Stockholm Pride festival. By coincidence, the nearby subway station (Stadion) happens to have a beautiful rainbow in vivid colors painted against the bright blue of the station's cave walls to welcome festival-goers. The station is one of Stockholm’s first cave stations, a controversial subject when it was built in 1973, explains art guide Marie Andersson.

"There were actual fears that people would associate these cave stations with the netherworld and other nasty places. So the bright blue and the rainbow serves as a reminder that there is a sky not far above".

The station’s artists, Åke Pallarp and Enno Hallek, not only wanted to bring the sky underground but also remind passengers of Stadion’s significance in sports history. Close by is The Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the site for the 1912 Olympics, and each year between 1913 and 1965 the Swedish bandy finals. Today, Stadion is still one of Stockholm’s great arenas and regularly hosts sports events and concerts.