The capital’s first metro line, constructed for the 1900 summer Olympic Games, was line 1 linking Vincennes to Porte Maillot…122 years later, the Paris metro network counts 14 lines and no less than 300 stations!
Often overcrowded and subject to an irritating variety of technical hiccups, the Paris metro is not always a subject for a standing ovation … but it is nonetheless an integral part of the capital’s heritage and some of its stations stand out owing to their history or originality…
Let’s go through the Top 5 of the capital’s most noteworthy stations:
Bastille station, line 1
The station’s platforms take us on a journey through time, with a ceramic fresco recalling the area’s most renowned event from the past. Created in 1989 for the bicentenary of the French Revolution by artists Liliane Belembert and Odile Jacquot, the 180 sqm fresco depicts the storming of the Bastille.
Louvre-Rivoli station, line 1
A collaboration between the Louvre Museum and the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais led to the station’s facelift in 2016. The former designed the scenography and the latter lent 9 statues to create the impression of being already in the Museum. Harmoniously highlighted by subdued lighting, contemporary materials rub shoulders with reproductions of antique masterpieces.
Bir Hakeim station, line 6
This overground station boasts one of the network’s most remarkable views of the capital! A superb stained-glass window, the work of American artist Judy Ledgerwood, allows daylight to filter through from dawn to dusk…
Arts et Métiers station, line 11
Undoubtedly the capital’s most original station plunges passengers into the world of Jules Verne. The authors of the comic strip “Les Cités Obscures” Benoit Peeters and François Schuiten transformed the station into a submarine, copper-decked and with cogs and gearwheels hanging from the ceiling… Welcome to another universe.
Concorde station, line 12
On the station’s tiled walls, try to read through the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights… without punctuation or spaces. Created by Françoise Shein in 1990, this should pass the time as you wait for your train!
