Saint-Jacques: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 6.
Why this name?
Opened in 1906, the station takes its name from its location in the old Saint-Jacques suburb, at the crossing of boulevard Saint-Jacques and rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques and rue de la Tombe-Issoire. Elevated and at ground level, with platforms covered by canopies held up by posts in the middle of the platforms, it has a single entrance on the central reservation of the boulevard. The walls are exposed stone, protected by backlit glazing, and the tiled floor was replaced by asphalt in 2018.
Anecdote
The platforms carry no advertising, a unique case on the network. The station appears in exterior shots in Charade (1963) by Stanley Donen, and it is humorously nicknamed « Coquille » (« shell »), after the scallop shell of Saint James.
Around Saint-Jacques
- Parc Montsouris, 130 m away — An English-style landscape park designed by Adolphe Alphand, dedicated in 1869 and finished in 1878. A one-hectare artificial lake is fed by a stream running over a cascade, both also artificial.
- Observatoire de Paris, 300 m away — An astronomical observatory founded in 1667 under Louis XIV, one of the oldest in the world still in operation.
- Rue Saint-Jacques, 650 m away — A former pilgrimage route to Compostela, one of the oldest streets in Paris.