Crimée: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 7.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from rue de Crimée, the longest street in the 19th arrondissement, whose name recalls the Crimean War (1855-1856). It lies under avenue de Flandre, between rue de Joinville and rue de Crimée, between Corentin Cariou and Riquet, and opened with the first section of line 7, between Opéra and Porte de la Villette. The Villette basin, the Canal de l'Ourcq, the Orgues de Flandre and the rue de Crimée lift bridge are nearby.
Anecdote
As an April Fools' joke, the RATP covered half of the plates and renamed the station « Châtiment » (« Punishment »), a nod to Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. For the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games it became « Escrimée », a portmanteau evoking fencing (« escrime »). Exit no. 3, rue Mathis, is a Guimard pavilion listed as a historic monument.
Around Crimée
- Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, 1100 m away — A park opened on 1 April 1867, the day of the Universal Exposition, designed by Alphand. Davioud's Temple de la Sibylle stands about 50 m above the lake, which is crossed by a 63-metre suspension bridge designed by Eiffel.
- Bassin de la Villette, 700 m away — Filled with water on 2 December 1808, this basin is the end of the Ourcq canal, created by a decree of Napoleon in 1802, and the starting point of the Canal Saint-Martin.
- Rotonde de la Villette, 750 m away — A former 18th-century toll house designed by architect Ledoux, now a cultural venue.