Edgar Quinet: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from boulevard Edgar-Quinet, which honours the historian and politician Edgar Quinet (1803-1875). It opened with the extension of line 2 South from Passy to Place d'Italie. Its single entrance, on boulevard Edgar-Quinet, is decorated with a Dervaux-style lamp-post; it stands at the junction of rue du Montparnasse, rue de la Gaîté, rue d'Odessa and rue Delambre, between Montparnasse - Bienvenüe and Raspail.
Anecdote
For a time the Place d'Italie - Étoile section was attached to line 6 to serve the colonial exhibition at the Bois de Vincennes.
Around Edgar Quinet
- Cimetière du Montparnasse, 350 m away — The second largest cemetery in Paris, the final resting place of Baudelaire, Sartre and Beauvoir.
- Marché Edgar-Quinet, 90 m away — A lively neighbourhood market, complemented by an artists' flea market on Sundays.
- Tour Montparnasse, 220 m away — An iconic skyscraper offering one of the finest panoramas over Paris from its summit.