Stockholm’s postboxes get an awesome rainbow makeover
Postboxes in the Swedish capital have been given an epic rainbow makeover as the city hosts the Eurovision Song Contest.
The camp music contest, which sees thousands of LGBT fans flocking to the host city every year, is currently underway in the city after the victory of Måns Zelmerlöw with the song Heroes.
When hosting Eurovision last year, the Austrian capital Vienna installed special traffic lights at pedestrian crossings – featuring dancing gay and lesbian couples holding hands, with hearts above them.
But Swedes don’t do anything by half-measures, and Stockholm has gone all out to ‘gay up’ their city for the week.
Not only have they given their traffic lights a unique make-over, but postal company PostNord has given postboxes in the city a rainbow makeover.
The company, which is jointly-owned by the Swedish and Danish governments, announced a series of commemorative rainbow stamps earlier this year.
To mark the launch of the stamps this week, six of the city’s traditional postboxes have been given a makeover in the colours of the Pride flag.
The company explained to The Local that the country’s traditional blue-and-yellow mailboxes have been replaced in six strategic locations, including on Regeringsgatan – the road that leads to the Swedish Parliament – and near the Eurovision arena.
The postboxes will remain until May 14 when Eurovision ends, but it may be a case of good timing more than good planning.
PostNord spokesperson Anne Jiremar said: “We had planned this before Måns even won, but it is very good timing and I hope that many tourists will enjoy buying rainbow stamps to send a postcard home!”
Meanwhile, the city teamed up with artists Hakan Lidbo and Max Bjorverud to bring a very Eurovision twist to some of the city’s infrastructure.
The project was aimed at revamping “boring and dull places” to make them “musical and interactive” – with traffic lights the first order of business.
The artists targeted the ticker boxes that are already common at pedestrian crossings across the city. The pre-existing boxes emit a ticking sound to help visually-impaired people cross the road, with a slow-paced ticking when the lights are red and a fast-paced ticking when the lights are green.
But they now been given a Eurovision twist. Click here to find out what they did.
