Thousands of people use them every day and almost no one pays attention to the beauty of some of them. Some of the 56 metro stations (or metro here in Portugal) stand out for containing tile panels that are works of art. The idea of making these underground places, normally associated with darkness, beautiful places has been around since the first transport stations appeared in Lisbon in the 1950s.
The first generation of stations has as a reference point for its visual design the architect Keil do Amaral and the painter Maria Keil, who transformed the first stations in Lisbon into an example of the treatment of public spaces, which were designed with tile panels (brand registered in the country) and lots of beauty and clarity, different from what was imagined at the beginning of construction, which would adopt more austere and simple styles.
Keil do Amaral had considerable experience in creating public spaces with public transport operators and was responsible for the design of the airport building at Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon. For the metro, the architect created a model station project, a model that would be used with few modifications until 1972, when the extension to Alvalade was completed. All eleven initial stations opened in December 1959, with the exception of Avenida station, had coverings designed by Maria Keil.
In 1988, with the inauguration of the Sete Rios/Colégio Militar and Entre Campos/Cidade Universitária extensions, a second generation of stations emerged and thanks to the action of the then President of the Management Board of the public transport company, Engineer Pestana Bastos, the original intention of providing public spaces with this means of transport with interventions by renowned contemporary artists.
To decorate the new stations with their works, five artists were invited, Rolando Sá Nogueira, Júlio Pomar, Manuel Cargaleiro, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Eduardo Nery, whose works today enrich, respectively, the stations Laranjeiras, Alto dos Moinhos, Colégio Militar , Cidade Universitária and Campo Grande.
How about strolling through Lisbon’s beautiful metro stations? One of them, Olaias, on the Red Line, is considered one of the 25 most beautiful metro stations in Europe.
