Duroc: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro lines 10 and 13.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from rue Duroc, which honours Géraud Christophe Michel Duroc (1772-1813), Duke of Friuli and general of the Empire, Bonaparte's aide-de-camp in Italy and Egypt, then Grand Marshal of the Palace in 1804; he rests at Les Invalides, beside the Emperor. It lies on the border of the 6th, 7th and 15th arrondissements, at place Léon-Paul-Fargue, near the former Sèvres barrier of the Farmers-General wall. It is served by lines 10 and 13, and opened with the first section of line 10, between Invalides and Croix-Rouge. The line 13 platforms were fitted with platform screen doors in 2012.
Anecdote
On the line 10 platforms, the station was renamed « Durock » in June 2008, then again in 2009 for the Rock en Seine festival, the operation being repeated in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. On 6 December 2017 it became « Durock Johnny » for a day, in tribute to Johnny Hallyday, with part of his discography played.
Audio guide
The Rodin Museum, the sculptor of excess
The Thinker? Originally, it measured about 70 cm: Rodin designed it to overlook the Porte de l 'Enfer, commissioned in 1880 for a museum of decorative arts that would never see the light of day. Enlarged to 1.86 m in 1904, it became one of the most famous sculptures in the world.
And the Door? More than 6 m high, nearly 4 m wide, about 180 figures inspired by Dante. Rodin worked on it for 37 years, until his death, without ever finishing it: it would only be cast in bronze after him.
Same excess for his Balzac: a 2.70 m colossus wrapped in his dressing gown, refused in 1898 by the Société des gens de lettres who had ordered it! It was not until 1939 to see it in bronze, Boulevard Raspail.
These giants were born at the Biron Hotel, where Rodin settled in 1908. He bequeathed all his work to the State, and the museum opened in 1919.
Around Duroc
- Musée Rodin, 750 m away — A museum devoted to sculptor Auguste Rodin, in a mansion surrounded by a sculpture garden.
- Hôtel des Invalides, 900 m away — A monumental complex founded by Louis XIV, home to Napoleon's tomb beneath its gilded dome.
- La Pagode, 450 m away — A former cinema housed in an authentic 19th-century Japanese pagoda, a unique venue in Paris.