Quai de la Gare: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from its proximity to the quai de la Gare, on the left bank of the Seine. That quay honours the river port of Ivry, built near the Salpêtrière hospital from the end of Louis XV's reign, which gave its name to the Gare district. Elevated, it stands above boulevard Vincent-Auriol, at the start of the Pont de Bercy, between Chevaleret and Bercy, and opened with the first section of line 6, between Place d'Italie and Nation.
Anecdote
This two-platform station is covered by a glass roof. Its walls are lined with bevelled white tiles on the inside and bricks with geometric patterns on the outside, and its semi-direct lighting is blue. A scene from the film La Belle Personne (2008), by Christophe Honoré, was shot there.
Around Quai de la Gare
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, 450 m away — The François-Mitterrand site, opened to the public in 1996 and designed by Dominique Perrault. Its 12,000 m² inner garden, closed to the public, holds pines from the forêt de Bord transplanted as mature trees.
- Bercy Village, 1200 m away — Bercy's former wine cellars and warehouses, listed as historic monuments in 1986, have become a village of shops and restaurants, completed in 2001 and opened in 2002. A UGC cinema has moved in.
- Piscine Joséphine Baker, 450 m away — A floating swimming pool moored on the Seine, with an open-air basin and river views.