La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle: station history
Served by: metro lines 6, 8 and 10.
Why this name?
Served by lines 6, 8 and 10, in the 15th arrondissement, the station is elevated for line 6, on a viaduct, and underground for lines 8 and 10. Its name honours Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de La Motte (1720-1791), via avenue de La Motte-Picquet; « Grenelle » refers to the former commune, annexed to Paris in 1860. Opened as La Motte-Picquet on line 6, it took its present name when the underground part of line 8 opened.
Anecdote
In 1931, during the colonial exhibition at the bois de Vincennes, line 6 temporarily served Nation. The platform shared by lines 8 and 10, with flat white tiles laid vertically, shares this feature only with Père Lachaise, on line 2. A mural evokes the barrière de la Cunette, a former gate of the Farmers-General wall, and Joséphine Baker mentions the station in her song « Revoir Paris ».
Around La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle
- Champ de Mars, 750 m away — A vast green esplanade stretching to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, laid out for the World's Fairs.
- Village Suisse, 280 m away — A picturesque antiques district, on the site of a former village recreated for the 1900 World's Fair.
- Tour Eiffel, 1000 m away — Paris's iconic landmark, built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World's Fair.