Porte de Clignancourt: station history
Served by: metro line 4.
Why this name?
Opened on 21 April 1908, the station is the northern terminus of line 4. Its name comes from the former hamlet of Clignancourt, which belonged to the abbey of Saint-Denis; when the Thiers wall was built, the gate that protected it was given the same name. It serves boulevard Ornano and place des Tirailleurs-Sénégalais. The Saint-Ouen flea market, the Saint-Ouen Paris cemetery and the Clignancourt university centre are nearby.
Anecdote
Since the opening of the tram T3b extension, the station carries the subtitle « Puces de Saint-Ouen ». Its decor follows the green « Ouï-dire » style, with a light strip held by curved brackets.
Audio guide
Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, the world's leading art and antique market
In 1884, the prefect Eugène Poubelle imposed boxes on Parisians for their garbage. The ragpickers, who lived on the recovery and sorting of waste, lose their livelihood and are pushed out of the fortifications, on the "Zone". In Saint-Ouen, they spread out on the ground what they gleaned: old clothes, furniture, scrap metal. 🧥
The name? There would come fleas inviting themselves into the second-hand fruit trees! 🐜 Merchants settled permanently and, from the 1920s, the first markets were organized: Vernaison, then Paul-Bert and Biron. Chinatowners, antique dealers and artists sniff out bargains, while Django Reinhardt's gypsy jazz resonates in the nearby guinguettes. 🎻
Today, it is one of the largest antique markets in the world: about fifteen markets, thousands of stalls and several million visitors per year. Furniture, jewellery, posters, vinyl records, objects of curiosity... people come here to hunt, but also to stroll. And the atmosphere, she, did not take a wrinkle. ✨
Around Porte de Clignancourt
- Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, 750 m away — The world's largest antiques and secondhand market, gathering thousands of dealers since the 19th century.
- Marché Vernaison, 600 m away — The oldest market on the flea market site, opened in 1920, known for its picturesque maze of alleys.