Underground Art, Between Metro Stations and Archaeological Sites

There is a place where concrete gets a splash of color, where underground tunnels transform into exhibition pathways, and metro stations become museums accessible to everyone.

It’s the world of infrastructure that becomes beauty. A global phenomenon where art carves out space in the city’s depths, turning transit points into environments for contemplation.

This isn’t a utopia but an increasingly widespread reality in major cities. From the underground tunnels of Naples’ public transportation to the redeveloped tunnels of New York, from Thessaloniki, Helsinki to Amsterdam and, naturally, Rome, art permeates these technical spaces and reinterprets them. The journey becomes an aesthetic experience, and the tunnel system transforms into a cultural space.

In Italy, one of the most emblematic examples of this transformation is in Naples, where the “Art Stations” have become a city symbol. Along metro lines 1 and 6, the journey becomes an underground museum experience.

The project, supported by the Municipality of Naples with contributions from Webuild, which built many of the involved stations, brought together dozens of internationally renowned artists and architects.

The standout is Toledo metro station, designed by architect Oscar Tusquets Blanca: a descent into marine depths told through mosaics, lighting effects, and installations that turn the station environment into an almost dreamlike space. Here, the art of Robert Wilson, William Kentridge, and Achille Cevoli accompanies travelers, making every descent to the platforms an aesthetic experience.
It’s no coincidence that Toledo has been called “the most beautiful metro station in the world.” But the artistic journey continues in other stations like Università, Materdei, Municipio, and more recently San Pasquale (on metro Line 6), which together create an underground museum circuit offering citizens a cultural heritage accessible for free.

Thessaloniki, Greece, also tells a story where infrastructure and heritage meet.

Opened in November 2024, its new driverless subway line transports up to 18,000 passengers per hour per direction. But its uniqueness lies elsewhere: during archeological excavations, an entire ancient city emerged, with Roman and Byzantine remains.

The design choice was bold: to integrate the archaeological sites into the metro network. Today, passengers on Thessaloniki’s new metro can walk alongside an ancient Roman road.

This same method was applied in Rome’s Metro Line C, built by the Metro C Consortium led by Webuild and Vianini Lavori. Both the existing stations like San Giovanni and upcoming ones like Porta Metronia and Colosseo/Fori Imperiali are designed to present incredible Roman Empire artifacts within exhibition paths integrated into the stations—true museum spaces delivered to the city and the millions of people who visit and use its metro transportation.

In addition to operational stations, old railway tunnels and abandoned galleries are being reborn as creative spaces.

In New York, the Delancey Underground, a former subway station, was transformed into Manhattan’s first underground park filled with art pieces. Known as the Lowline, the park was set up in the old Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal near Delancey Street, one of the Lower East Side’s best-known roads.

Construction began in 2019 and was completed in 2020. Its name was chosen to create a link with the High Line, the elevated railway on the West Side turned into an iconic urban park.

In London, a similar initiative took place with the “Old Vic Tunnels,” an underground space behind Waterloo Station that from 2009 to 2013 was dedicated to art exhibitions and performances. The venue hosted events including the UK premiere of the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, and in 2012, a fundraising gala for then U.S. President Bill Clinton organized by the Reuben Foundation.

In 2014, the “Old Vic Tunnels” were acquired by the brand Vans and converted into a skate park named “House of Vans.”

In Northern Europe, metro lines have also become a canvas for art.

In Helsinki, Finland, the central station was designed and built in Art Nouveau style, while Kamppi Station houses what is known as the Chapel of Silence, designed by Finnish firm K2S Architects. The Kamppi’s chapel is meant for meditation and self-reflection right within one of the city’s busiest urban areas.

In Amsterdam, the new Noord-Zuidlijn is a widespread museum: over 80 permanent artworks accompany daily commutes through atriums, platforms, and corridors. Here too, art isn’t mere decoration, but an integral part of the design. Every traveler is also a spectator.

Once again, art is not an accessory but an integral part of the infrastructure: those riding the metro unknowingly become visitors to a dispersed museum.

In all these cases, the infrastructure-art pairing is no longer a coincidence dictated by location. It represents a new urban language—returning technical spaces to the community by transforming them into places of social and cultural significance.

The underground tunnels are no longer solely the domain of engineers and technicians. It’s now a creative stage, a place of passage that transforms into a space for pausing, reflection, and beauty. It’s an invitation to think of engineering not just as function, but as form. Not just as a technical discipline, but as an integral part of a city’s identity.