A group of Egyptian young men and women are bringing color to Cairo’s metro stations through murals. The project, “Let’s Color It,” has made a splash with commuters by metro, the most popular and least expensive means of transportation in Egypt used by millions of citizens every day.

A youth association called Moubdioun (Arabic for "Innovators") first conceived of the idea in 2015 and then completed its first project in 2016 on the walls of Hikma Square in Heliopolis, Cairo. In January, Moubdioun contacted the Cairo Metro administration asking for permission to paint the city's metro stations. Cairo Metro agreed and provided paint and brushes and assigned a support team to assist.

In late January, 11 young men and women from various artistic backgrounds began working on the walls of the Opera metro station, painting murals of galaxies and planets. They also painted portraits of great Egyptian artists such as writer Nagib Mahfouz, singer Umm Kulthum, singer Mohamed Abdel Wahab and playwright Najib El Rihani.

The Opera metro station is one of 64 such stops in Cairo. Its third line is being completed and fourth, fifth and sixth lines will soon be built to cover most of Greater Cairo at a cost of 200 billion Egyptian pounds ($11.3 billion). The nearby Cairo Opera House, which hosts plays, musical performances and exhibitions, is one of Egypt's most important cultural venues and the area is known as Cairo’s national cultural center.