Blanche: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 2.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from its proximity to place Blanche and rue Blanche, which carts carrying plaster from the Montmartre plaster works used to cover in white powder. It lies on the border of the 9th and 18th arrondissements, under boulevard de Clichy, between Place de Clichy and Pigalle, on line 2. It opened two weeks after the Étoile - Anvers section of line 2 North was put into service; before then, trains ran through without stopping.
Anecdote
Its single entrance, on boulevard de Clichy, is a Guimard pavilion listed as a historic monument. From 1950 to about 2010 the walls were clad in metal panelling with blue uprights and lit gilded advertising frames, with white shell-shaped Motte seats; this decor was removed when the station was renovated under the « Renouveau du métro » programme. The Akiko seats are now orange.
Around Blanche
- Café des 2 Moulins, 250 m away — At 15 rue Lepic, at the foot of Montmartre, the café where the heroine of Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) works. Its name recalls the Moulin Rouge and the Moulin de la Galette; the film turned it into a tourist stop.
- Place Blanche, 20 m away — A small square on boulevard de Clichy, at the foot of Montmartre. On 23 May 1871, 120 women of the Commune held a barricade here against General Clinchant's troops. The Moulin Rouge stands on the square.
- Moulin Rouge, 50 m away — A cabaret opened on 6 October 1889 on boulevard de Clichy by Joseph Oller and Charles Zidler, topped by a red windmill. It is presented as the birthplace of the modern French cancan, of which La Goulue was one of the dancers.
- Cimetière de Montmartre, 450 m away — A large 19th-century cemetery, home to the graves of many famous artists and writers.