Nationale: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from its proximity to rue Nationale, which honours the Garde nationale, a bourgeois civic militia created during the French Revolution. Elevated, it stands on boulevard Vincent-Auriol, between rue Jeanne-d'Arc and rue Nationale, in the 13th arrondissement, between Place d'Italie (underground) and Chevaleret. It opened with the first section of line 6, between Place d'Italie and Nation, and bus lines 27 and 61 serve it.
Anecdote
The station is covered by a glass roof « in the style of the canopies of the stations of the time ». Its walls are bevelled white tiles on the inside and brick with geometric patterns on the outside; the semi-direct lighting comes from blue ceiling lights, tubes on the walls and blue spotlights on the frame, and the platforms have slatted wooden benches.
Around Nationale
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, 750 m away — The François-Mitterrand site, opened to the public in 1996 and designed by Dominique Perrault. Its 12,000 m² inner garden, closed to the public, holds pines from the forêt de Bord transplanted as mature trees.
- Manufacture des Gobelins, 1100 m away — A royal workshop founded in the 17th century that still weaves exceptional tapestries for the French state today.
- Quartier chinois, 260 m away — One of the largest Chinatowns in Europe, known for its Asian restaurants and shops.