Saint-Paul: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 1.
Why this name?
A line 1 station, under the start of rue de Rivoli, where rue Saint-Antoine joins it, it opened about three weeks after the first section of the line, put into service on 19 July 1900; before that, trains ran through without stopping. Its name comes from rue Saint-Paul and the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, the street itself named after the former church of Saint-Paul-des-Champs, dedicated to Paul of Thebes, known as Saint Paul the Hermit. Its subtitle, « Le Marais », refers to the district, named after a former marshy area.
Anecdote
During the First World War, a 300 kg bomb dropped by German Gotha aircraft damaged the Guimard edicule, which was demolished in 1922 and replaced by a simpler Dervaux wrought-iron surround. A 15-metre crypt at the east end extends the platforms to 90 metres to take six-car trains. In the corridors, the sand-coloured tiles with hollow patterns are typical of the 1950s; the station also inspired a book by Cyrille Fleischman, « Rendez-vous au métro Saint-Paul » (1992).
Audio guide
The Carnavalet Museum, the history of Paris from its origins to the present day
Opened in 1880, the Carnavalet Museum is the oldest municipal museum in the capital. Dedicated to the history of Paris, his project was initiated in 1866 by Prefect Haussmann as major works transformed the city. The museum comes to life in the heart of the Marais in the former Hotel des Ligneris, a Renaissance jewel redesigned by Mansart and inhabited in the 17th century by Madame de Sévigné. Enlarged in 1989 by the annexation of the Le Peletier hotel in Saint-Fargeau, this unique setting houses more than 600,000 works. It reopened in 2021 after a mammoth four-year renovation.
The hotel was built between 1548 and 1560 for Jacques des Ligneris, President of the Parliament of Paris. From 1660, François Mansart added two wings; Madame de Sévigné lived there from 1677 to 1694. The City of Paris bought it in 1866 at the suggestion of Haussmann, and the museum opened on February 25, 1880. Closed in October 2016 for renovation, it reopened in March 2021 with more than 618,000 objects divided into ten departments. For the record: "Carnavalet" comes from a distortion of "Kernevenoy", the name of the owner from 1578.
Victor Hugo's House, a home filled with memories
In Victor Hugo's apartment, the most beautiful room has traveled since exile.
From 1832 to 1848, Hugo lived on the second floor of the Hotel de Rohan-Guéménée, Place des Vosges. There he received Balzac, Vigny and Gautier, wrote Ruy Blas and began Les Misérables. But the craziest decor is not of the time: it is the Chinese living room, which Hugo designed himself during his exile in Guernsey for the house of Juliette Drouet, his fifty-year-old companion.
Porcelain, Far Eastern objects, painted panels: the writer, who liked to tinker with decorations, became a decorator. Reassembled as it is in the Place des Vosges, the ensemble contrasts with the bourgeois apartment of the July monarchy.
Hugo was also a fascinating cartoonist, who did not hesitate to use coffee or soot when the ink was missing. His drawings, furniture and family memories remind us that before being a national monument, Hugo was a neighbour of the Marais.
Today, the permanent collections are free: one of the most beautiful writer's museums in Paris, open without a ticket, at the foot of the arcades of the Place des Vosges. It was created in 1902, on the centenary of the writer's birth.
Getting there: 6 place des Vosges, Paris 4th. Metro Saint-Paul (line 1). Free permanent collections.
Around Saint-Paul
- Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, 200 m away — The library of Paris history, created in 1872 after the fire of 1871 and housed since 1969 in the Hôtel Lamoignon on rue Pavée. It holds about one million books and 21,000 manuscripts.
- Musée Cognacq-Jay, 350 m away — 18th-century artworks and furniture gathered by La Samaritaine's founders, in a Marais mansion.
- Place des Vosges, 300 m away — The oldest royal square in Paris, completed in 1612, surrounded by elegant arcades and brick-and-stone pavilions.
- Musée Carnavalet, 280 m away — A museum devoted to the history of Paris, housed in two Marais mansions, with free entry.
- Village Saint-Paul, 250 m away — A cluster of hidden courtyards and lanes home to antique dealers and craftspeople, away from the Marais bustle.
- Mémorial de la Shoah, 450 m away — A memorial and documentation centre devoted to the history of the Holocaust, with the Wall of Names of the 76,000 Jews deported from France.