Parc de Sceaux: station history
Served by: RER B.
Did you know?
An RER line B station opened in the 1930s by the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris (CMP) on the Sceaux line; it now belongs to RATP. It is in Antony, close to Sceaux, at the southern exit of the tunnel that takes the line under the Sceaux hill. A reference lists it among three new stations opened at the time, with those of Bagneux, Pont-Royal and Fontaine-Michalon. It is served at the La Fontaine stop by buses 196 and 197 and, at night, by Noctilien lines N14 and N21.
Anecdote
The Sceaux estate was bought in 1670 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who enlarged it to about a hundred hectares and commissioned its park from André Le Nôtre. His son Seignelay extended it to about 227 hectares; Jules Hardouin-Mansart built the orangery in 1686, and the Grand Canal, 1,140 metres long, was completed in 1691. The estate lacks water, like Versailles. The département de la Seine bought it back in 1923, and the present château, built from 1856 to 1862, housed the musée de l'Île-de-France in 1937.
Around Parc de Sceaux
- Parc de Sceaux, 550 m away — A 181-hectare French formal garden designed by André Le Nôtre, a remnant of Colbert's estate.
- Château de Sceaux – musée du Domaine départemental, 400 m away — A château rebuilt in 1856-1858 for the duc de Trévise, now home to the Domaine de Sceaux museum.
- Pavillon de l'Aurore, 350 m away — A pavilion from Colbert's estate, spared when his château was demolished in 1798.