Place des Fêtes: station history
Served by: metro line 11.
Did you know?
The station's name recalls the public festivities once held on the square by the former commune of Belleville. On line 7 bis it opened in 1912, more than a year after the neighbouring branch, because of construction difficulties through old quarries; trains ran through without stopping. Line 11 arrived in 1935: a detour via the square, rather than rue de Belleville, was chosen to provide a connection with line 7, at the cost of nearly 800 m of tunnel under buildings. Its two entrances are reinforced-concrete Art Deco pavilions.
Anecdote
With 256 steps for a depth of 27 m, its escalators are the longest in the Paris metro. The entrance hall is one of the few on the historic network whose wall tiles have never been renovated. The station served as an air-raid shelter during the Second World War, and watertight doors and the former filtering chamber, designed against chemical attacks, can still be seen. On line 7 bis it fully keeps the orange Andreu-Motte style.
Around Place des Fêtes
- Parc de Belleville, 600 m away — A sloped park offering one of the finest free panoramas over Paris.
- Marché Place des Fêtes, 350 m away — A lively neighbourhood market, the commercial heart of this redeveloped square in the 19th arrondissement.
- Rue de Belleville, 500 m away — A lively street crossing the cosmopolitan Belleville district, known for its street art.