Porte Dorée: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 8.
Why this name?
The name comes from the porte Dorée, whose etymology is said to be a contraction of « porte de l'orée du bois » (« gate at the edge of the wood »), on the fringe of the bois de Vincennes; a statue of a woman bearing the stamp of the founder Rudier is also cited for its golden colour. The station lies under the end of boulevard Poniatowski, at place Édouard-Renard, with six entrances including one near the zoo. It opened with the extension of line 8 from Richelieu - Drouot to Porte de Charenton, and is one of four stations built at the gates of Paris without having been a terminus originally.
Anecdote
It was the scene of the metro's first « perfect crime »: two years before the start of the Second World War, a young woman was found stabbed in a first-class car where she was alone. Commissaire Badin's investigation explored several leads, including the Cagoule, then the case was closed without result. It inspired Pierre Siniac's novel Le Crime du dernier métro (2001).
Around Porte Dorée
- Palais de la Porte Dorée, 290 m away — An Art Deco palace built for the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, now home to an aquarium and a museum of immigration.
- Bois de Vincennes, 500 m away — Paris's largest green space, with a lake, zoo and racecourse, a former royal hunting ground.
- Parc zoologique de Paris, 900 m away — A modern zoo in the Bois de Vincennes, known for its iconic large artificial rock.