Censier-Daubenton: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 7.
Why this name?
The station is named after rue Censier and rue Daubenton. Rue Censier comes from the old « rue Sans Chef », a dead end off rue Mouffetard; rue Daubenton honours Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716-1799), a naturalist who worked with Buffon on the Histoire naturelle and was the first director of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, which the street faces. Until 1965 the station was called « Censier - Daubenton - Halle aux cuirs », recalling an old market of tanners established along the Bièvre. It lies in the west of the Jardin-des-Plantes district, under rue Monge, and its platforms curve because of the slight offset of the street at this junction.
Anecdote
In April 2010, Censier - Daubenton became the first station on the network lit by LED tubes, for an estimated energy saving of over 65%. Its platforms are 105 m long; the entrances keep a lamp-post and wrought-iron railing in the 1930s Dervaux style.
Around Censier-Daubenton
- Jardin des Plantes, 650 m away — Founded in 1635 by an edict of Louis XIII as a garden of medicinal plants, it is France's main botanical garden and the seat of the National Museum of Natural History. Buffon, who directed it from 1739 to 1788, roughly doubled its size.
- Rue Mouffetard, 500 m away — One of the oldest streets in Paris, famous for its lively food market and historic façades.