On this date in 1973 a bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden turned into a five-day hostage crisis. During that time the hostages began to sympathize with their captors, leading to the psychological condition known as “Stockholm syndrome”, coined by psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery. Speaking of Stockholm, did you know the city has an underground art museum? Well, maybe museum isn’t the right word, but the subway system, the Tunnelbana, has 75 miles of colorful murals, sculptures, mosaics, paintings and art installations from the 1950s to the early 2000s. For the price of a Stockholm Metro ticket, you can enjoy these impressive artworks at 90 of the 100 stations. This thing is pretty surreal. The central subway station, T-Centralen station, designed by Per Olof Ultvedt in 1975, features massive blue-and-white paintings on its cave-like ceilings, while Kungsträdgården features the remains of Stockholm’s old Makalös palace. The Odenplan metro station replaced the stairs with large piano keys. Over 60% more people used the stairs than the escalator after it opened in 2006. Sounds annoying, but kind of cool. I don’t know about you, but if all public transportation was this interesting (and it is in Europe and other parts of the world), I wouldn’t complain about taking the train ever again.
Stockholm Metro – Tunnelbana, Sweden
