Porte de la Villette: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 7.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from the porte de la Villette, which evokes the former commune of La Villette, annexed to Paris in 1860. It remained the terminus of line 7 until 1979, the year of the extension to Fort d'Aubervilliers. It lies under avenue Corentin-Cariou, partly under the railway tracks coming from Paris-Est station, with five entrances including one to the Cité des Sciences. The subtitle « Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie » was added in 1986, when the neighbouring institution opened.
Anecdote
A former loop terminus, it has four tracks divided into two half-stations framing an island platform, as at Château de Vincennes and Porte de Champerret. A tactile relief orientation table, installed in the hall in 2005, is one of three on the network with Porte de Pantin and Basilique de Saint-Denis. During the 2024 Olympic Games, pink signage was added on the platforms, linked to the parc de la Villette.
Around Porte de la Villette
- Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, 230 m away — The largest science museum in Europe, housed in a former cattle market hall.
- Parc de la Villette, 300 m away — A 55-hectare park laid out on the site of the former slaughterhouses, whose closure the City announced in 1973. Bernard Tschumi was given its architecture in 1983. Several themed gardens, with play areas, were built here.
- Géode, 350 m away — A spherical, mirror-like cinema, an architectural icon of Parc de la Villette.