Announced at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Prix Versailles has unveiled its 2026 list of the world’s seven most beautiful passenger train stations…
1/7Monte Sant’Angelo Station — Naples, Italy | Designed by artist Anish Kapoor with architectural firms Future Systems and AL_A, this station sits 48 metres underground, featuring monumental corten steel and aluminium portals that evoke Mount Vesuvius and the myth of the Cumaean Sibyl from Dante’s ‘Inferno’. (Image source: Anish Kapoor website)
2/7Colosseo – Fori Imperiali Station — Rome, Italy | Conceived by architects Andrea Grimaldi and Filippo Lambertucci, the station acts as an open archaeological exhibition, taking commuters on a theatre-like descent through the city’s historic underground strata and unexcavated Roman ruins. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
3/7National Museum Station — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Located in the historic Qasr AlHokm district and engineered by Arup, this Riyadh Metro hub is wrapped in a geometric concrete lattice shell inspired by the Tuwaiq mountains and traditional Najdi architecture, opening into a glowing blue interior concourse. (Image source: Instagram/Prix Versailles)
4/7Town Hall Station — Melbourne, Australia | Built beneath City Square, this station features a cathedral-like public underground hall supported by 14-metre-tall, tree-branch steel columns and vaulted copper ceilings echoing the Gothic architecture of neighbouring St. Paul’s Cathedral. (Image source: Instagram/Wikimedia Commons)
5/7Western Station — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Designed by architecture firm Omrania, this multimodal hub features undulating, dune-shaped canopies that provide natural solar shading, integrating city bus routes, light rail lines, and a community vegetable marketplace. (Image source: Instagram/Prix Versailles)
6/7Lyon Part-Dieu Station — Lyon, France | Overhauling an enclosed 1980s concrete terminal, this massive transformation project delivers an open, pedestrian-friendly transit gateway complete with the Place Charles Béraudier gallery and France’s largest bicycle parking garage. (Image source: Instagram/Prix Versailles)
7/7LAX/Metro Transit Center — Los Angeles, United States | Spanning 11 acres and designed by Grimshaw, Gruen Associates, and Arup, this light-filled transit facility directly bridges the decades-long gap between Los Angeles County’s light rail network and Los Angeles International Airport. (Image source: Instagram/Prix Versailles)
