Passy: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
The station opened in November 1903 with the extension of line 2 South from Trocadéro, where it had been run as a branch of line 1. In the initial plans it was called « station du quai de Passy »; the name comes from the quai de Passy, today's avenue du Président-Kennedy, which ran alongside the former village of Passy, annexed to Paris in 1860. It is the last elevated station on line 6 towards Charles de Gaulle - Étoile, set on the side of the Chaillot hill, partly underground, open on the Passy viaduct to the south-east.
Anecdote
During the war, Colonel Passy (André Dewavrin), head of the Free French secret services, took the station's name as his nom de guerre, like many Free French members. The station has been a film location several times, including Quai des Orfèvres (1947), Last Tango in Paris (1972) and Peur sur la ville (1975). An April Fools' joke once renamed it « Reste Passy près du bord » (a pun meaning « Stay Passy close to the edge »).
Audio guide
The Wine Museum, a unique collection around the vine
As early as 1496, the Minimes monks built a convent on the hill of Passy and produced a clear wine, much appreciated, it is said, by Louis XIII. To preserve it, they invested in ancient limestone quarries, from which the stones of the monuments of Paris had been extracted since the Middle Ages.
These vaulted cellars have known many lives: around 1950, they even housed the reserves of the Eiffel Tower restaurant. In 1984, the Conseil deséchansons de France transformed them into a museum.
For the anecdote: at the beginning of the 19th century, these cellars served a completely different cause, sugar! Continental blockade obliges, the cane no longer arrives in France. In Passy, Benjamin Delessert refined beet sugar, and on January 2, 1812, Napoleon came in person to pin his own Legion of Honor on him.
Today, the M. Musée du Vin has more than 2,000 objects: harvester's hoods, wine presses, tools... to understand everything about vines, winemaking and ageing. And on the way out, a tasting! 🥂
Around, rue des Vignes and rue Vineuse recall Passy's wine-growing past.
Around Passy
- Musée Marmottan Monet, 1250 m away — A museum home to the world's largest collection of Claude Monet works, including 'Impression, Sunrise'.
- Maison de Balzac, 230 m away — The former home of writer Honoré de Balzac, converted into a museum devoted to his life and work.
- Cimetière de Passy, 700 m away — A small, elegant cemetery overlooking the Seine, the final resting place of Manet and Debussy.