Chemin Vert: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 8.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from rue du Chemin-Vert, an old path that crossed market gardens. It lies under boulevard Beaumarchais, one of the Grands Boulevards, on the border of the Archives, Saint-Ambroise and Roquette districts. Its exit 1 leads towards place des Vosges; the Picasso museum, square Georges-Cain and the Canal Saint-Martin are nearby.
Anecdote
The interwar CMP decoration was entirely recreated during the 2006 renovation, and the slatted wooden benches are painted mauve, the colour of line 8. On 20 March 2018 the RATP replaced half of the name plates with a leafy landscape and a « Chemin Vert » sign, handing out flowers to passengers.
Audio guide
The National Picasso Museum, a savoury addition
The Picasso Museum is housed in a “salty” hotel… and its history is a matter of taxes.
Between 1656 and 1659, Pierre Aubert de Fontenay, a gabelle farmer, built this palace in the heart of the Marais with money from the salt tax. The nickname "Hôtel Salé" remains with him. Ruined, he leaves the hotel to the creditors, in a procedure that will last sixty years!
Three centuries later, the tax returned: upon Picasso's death in 1973, his heirs paid the inheritance tax in works, by a "dation" (1979). This is the origin of the collections. Renovated by architect Roland Simounet, the hotel became a museum in 1985.
Today, it is the richest collection of Picasso's works in the world. He said, “Give me a museum and I'll fill it. And he did not only collect his paintings: we also meet Cézanne, Matisse, Renoir, the Douanier Rousseau, Degas, Braque, Miró or Derain, his masters and friends.
Around Chemin Vert
- Place des Vosges, 400 m away — The oldest royal square in Paris, completed in 1612, surrounded by elegant arcades and brick-and-stone pavilions.
- Musée Carnavalet, 500 m away — A museum devoted to the history of Paris, housed in two Marais mansions, with free entry.
- Marché Bastille, 500 m away — One of the largest food markets in Paris, held on Boulevard Richard-Lenoir.