Kungstradgarden

It is the deepest station in the city, located 40 meters underground. It was opened in 1977 and designed by Ulrik Samuelson, trying to create an underground garden. The 3 colors green, red, and white recall the Baroque style of the park, with green plants, red floors, and white marble sculptures.

Inside the station, we will find 3 Greek statues representing the god of war. We also see carved silhouettes on the walls, making reference to the sculptures of the Makalös palace built in the park in 1635. Unfortunately, this palace burned down in 1825. The curious thing is that the Greek statues are inspired by the statues we see on the roof of the House of Knights in Gamlastan, the Riddarhusset. On the roof, we see the 8 virtues of the knights in statues, and these 3 are the respective underground copies.

Another of the most representative points is the archaeological excavation. The objects are original and donated by the Stockholm museum, and we see two separate parts, one with a statue representing painting and on the opposite side the statue representing architecture. We also see gas lamps, originals from the gas plant on Torsgatan.

At this point, if we look at the ceiling, we see radiation symbols and many types of drawings. These commemorate everything affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

Another curious detail is the tree trunk, specifically an elm. In Kunstradgarden, there was a protest in 1971, and due to the construction of the station, they had to cut down 13 trees in the park. Thanks to the protests, the entrance was moved to a private location, where it is today. Thanks to this, the trees were saved, and marks were made on one of them with chainsaws, which can be seen on the tree. This is why the tree is represented in the station.

You may have seen a barrel on the floor, spilling oil. The rumor says that the Italians in charge of making the tiles counted wrong… and the artist’s solution was to “spill” oil. It happened in 1977 when the Soviet ship Tsesis spilled 1000 cubic meters of oil outside Stockholm.