1972: The Opening of a Station on What is Now the Lisbon Metro Green Line

June 18, 1972

Arroios station on what is now the Green Line of the Lisbon Metro, the rapid transit system operating in the metropolitan area centered on Portugal’s capital city, first went into service. Arroios, the area where this station is located, is a frequesia (civil parish) and district of Lisbon. The station, which was one of four on that Lisbon Metro route to be opened on the same day, was designed by architect Denis (also spelled as Diniz) Gomes.

The key features of Arroios station include the art installations on display throughout the facility. These installations are azulejo tiles that were created by visual artist Maria Keil. Azulejo is a type of painted, tin-glazed ceramic tilework, and Keil — who died in Lisbon nearly 40 years after the opening of Arroios station — was instrumental in popularizing these wallcoverings as an ornamental form of art both within and well beyond Portugal.

Arroios station was temporarily closed starting on July 19, 2017, for major renovations. These changes included expanding the station’s platforms from 246.1 feet (75 meters) to 344.5 feet (105 meters) to provide sufficient space for accommodating six-car trains. Arroios station was reopened on September 14, 2021.

The Green Line was not given its current name and granted official status as a stand-alone line of the Lisbon Metro until 1998. This line has 13 stations altogether and a total length of 5.6 miles (nine kilometers).

Photo Credit: Badudoy (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

For more information on Arroios station, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arroios_Station

Additional information on the Lisbon Metro Green Line is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisbon_Metro_Green_Line