Saint-Michel: station history
Served by: metro line 4.
Did you know?
On the border of the 5th and 6th arrondissements, curving under place Saint-Michel, the line 4 station runs from rue Danton to the Seine. It opened in 1910 with the « central section » of line 4, until then split in two parts, the delay being due to the difficult underground crossing of the two arms of the Seine at the île de la Cité. It connects with the RER C at Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame, which gives access to the RER B, and with line 10 at Cluny - La Sorbonne.
Anecdote
Built from the street surface as a metal caisson, then sunk into the muddy ground, the station has three steel caissons 16.5 metres wide, an elliptical vault 12.5 metres high and platforms 118 metres long. The south caisson has lifts as well as fixed stairs, because of the depth. Its cylindrical stair caissons, painted white, were given two shades of blue in 2008.
Audio guide
Notre-Dame de Paris, an exceptional rescue
Night of April 15, 2019: the framework ignites and, inside Notre-Dame, a race against time begins.
Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the firefighters of Paris, rushes out with the rescue. He knows the keys and codes of the cathedral. Priority: the Crown of Thorns, acquired by Saint Louis in the 13th century, and the Blessed Sacrament.
Firefighters, police and City agents form a human chain to shelter the treasures at City Hall. The crown, a nail of the Passion, the tunic of Saint Louis: everything is saved. Even the cock of the arrow, found dented in the rubble, was a reliquary.
After five years of construction, Notre-Dame reopened its doors on December 8, 2024. At the top of the new spire, a golden rooster has resumed its place, and the cathedral is ready to welcome up to 14 million visitors a year.
For the frame, municipalities in France and elsewhere have donated oaks; it is rebuilt in green wood, with medieval methods. The five-year deadline has been met: the official reopening takes place on December 8, 2024.
For the anecdote: the spire again bears the 19th century cross designed by Viollet-le-Duc, placed at the crossroads of the transept.
Around Saint-Michel
- Shakespeare and Company, 250 m away — Bookshop at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, opened in 1951 by George Whitman as Le Mistral and renamed in 1964. It appears in Before Sunset, Julie & Julia and Midnight in Paris.
- Fontaine Saint-Michel, 40 m away — 26 m high, it was built in 1860 by Davioud, on Haussmann's orders, to fill the corner of the new boulevard Saint-Michel. Francisque Duret sculpted the figure of Saint Michael overcoming the Devil.
- Musée de Cluny, 300 m away — Housed in the mansion of the abbots of Cluny, built in the late 15th century, next to Gallo-Roman baths, the museum holds the La Dame à la licorne tapestry series and Romanesque and Gothic sculptures.
- Square Viviani, 300 m away — A small square home to the oldest tree in Paris, planted in 1602, with a view of Notre-Dame from the Left Bank.