Glacière: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
An elevated line 6 station in the 13th arrondissement, it overlooks boulevard Auguste-Blanqui, north-west of its intersection with rue de la Glacière. The name comes from the old road linking Paris to Gentilly through the hamlet of La Glacière, crossed by the Bièvre: in winter the pools and ponds froze, and the ice was stored in masonry wells and old quarries on the heights of parc Montsouris, to be used in summer. The station opened with the last extension of line 2 South, from Passy to Place d'Italie.
Anecdote
Its two platforms are covered by a canopy-style glass roof; the walls combine, on the inside, bevelled white tiles and, on the outside, bricks with geometric patterns. The daily Le Monde had its headquarters at 80 boulevard Auguste-Blanqui from 2004 to early 2020, before moving near Gare d'Austerlitz. The Sainte-Anne hospital centre and parc Montsouris are very close.
Around Glacière
- Parc Montsouris, 500 m away — An English-style landscape park designed by Adolphe Alphand, dedicated in 1869 and finished in 1878. A one-hectare artificial lake is fed by a stream running over a cascade, both also artificial.
- Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de l'Hôpital Sainte-Anne, 350 m away — A collection tracing the history of psychiatry through the works and archives of the Sainte-Anne hospital.
- Butte-aux-Cailles, 450 m away — A former village of cobbled lanes and low houses, spared from Haussmann's grand renovations.
- Piscine de la Butte-aux-Cailles, 650 m away — An Art Deco pool fed by a natural artesian spring discovered in 1863.