Cidade Universitária is one of Lisbon Metro’s most “intellectual” art stations, where the decoration reflects ideas of knowledge, philosophy and city life. Opened in 1988 on the Yellow Line, it was designed by architect Sanchez Jorge, with a major artistic intervention by painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, and turned into azulejo by Manuel Cargaleiro.

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The central artwork is the large tile panel “Le Métro”, inspired by people sheltering in the Paris metro during wartime bombings.

Around this panel, the station’s art spreads across platforms and corridors. Individual figures and small motifs – fishes, suns, daggers, letters – are isolated into separate azulejo panels, and the ends of the platforms show abstracted urban landscapes, dense blocks of houses that evoke Lisbon’s old neighbourhoods. Outside, there is also a tile panel of old Lisbon donated to the city on the metro’s 30th anniversary.

Did you notice the philosophical quotes or recognise any of the figures hidden inside the “Le Métro” panel?