Iéna: station history
Served by: metro line 9.
Did you know?
A line 9 station in the 16th arrondissement, under place d'Iéna, between Trocadéro and Alma - Marceau. Its name recalls the battle of Jena (1806), Napoleon I's victory over the Prussians commanded by General Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, also commemorated by avenue d'Iéna. It opened with the Trocadéro - Saint-Augustin section of line 9. Three entrances lead towards the Museum of Modern Art and the Palais de Tokyo, the Guimet museum and the Palais d'Iéna.
Anecdote
The rue Boissière entrance, with a Val d'Osne totem, is slightly curved, which is rare in the Paris metro, and its railings match the gates of the Guimet museum. The decoration combines Gaudin style, bevelled white tiles, honey-coloured tile advertising frames and red Motte seats. On an April Fool's day, the RATP renamed the station « Quand y'en a plus, Iéna encore ! » (a pun on « il y en a encore »), one of nine stations involved.
Audio guide
The Guimet Museum, showcase of Asian arts
Founded by Lyon industrialist and collector Émile Guimet, the museum is now one of the most comprehensive collections of Asian art in the world, and one of the largest outside Asia.
The museum first opened in Lyon in 1879, before being transferred to Paris, where it moved to Place d 'Iéna in 1889. He is still there, at 6 de la place. Its venues travel from Cambodia to Thailand, from Vietnam to Tibet, from India to Nepal.
Khmer art collections occupy a prominent place. They owe a lot to Louis Delaporte and Étienne Aymonier, who sent coins to France with the agreement of the King of Cambodia, in order to show Europe the level reached by the ancient Khmer culture. A wing of the museum, the Buddhist Pantheon, also brings together Buddhist works.
The Palais de Tokyo, one of the largest contemporary art centers in Europe
The Palais de Tokyo was built for the 1937 International Exposition, on the banks of the Quai de Tokio, which was named in 1918 in homage to Japan, an ally of France during the First World War. The quay has since been renamed, but the Palais has retained its name.
It initially housed the National Museum of Modern Art, which moved to the Centre Pompidou in the 1970s. The building then fell into disrepair and remained derelict for years. 🕸️
In 2002, it was reborn in a very unexpected way: intentionally raw, with bare concrete, open volumes and hours from noon to midnight. Expanded in 2012, it became one of the largest centres of contemporary art in Europe, with 22,000 m² dedicated to creation.
Around Iéna
- Musée national de la Marine, 600 m away — Naval collections tracing French maritime history, housed in the west wing of the Palais de Chaillot, built for the 1937 World's Fair.
- Musée Guimet, 30 m away — The national museum of Asian arts, home to one of the richest collections of Asian art outside Asia, founded in the 19th century.
- Palais de Tokyo, 290 m away — A huge contemporary art centre housed in an Art Deco building built for the 1937 World's Fair.
- Musée d'Art Moderne, 350 m away — A municipal museum devoted to 20th- and 21st-century art, with works by Matisse, Picasso and Modigliani.