Saint-Placide: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 4.
Why this name?
On line 4, in the 6th arrondissement, under rue de Rennes, the station was first called « Rue de Vaugirard », after the longest street in Paris within the city walls. It was renamed Saint-Placide to avoid confusion with the Vaugirard station, opened three years earlier on the Nord-Sud line A. Its name honours Saint Placid, a disciple of Saint Benedict, through the neighbouring street. It opened with the Châtelet - Raspail section, which joined the northern and southern parts of the line.
Anecdote
It is the first of a series of five stations whose original name was taken by a more recent station: George V, Picpus, Avenue Émile-Zola and Dugommier gave their names to Alma - Marceau, Saint-Mandé, Commerce and Charenton - Écoles. Its platforms, 75 metres long, were lengthened to 90 metres between October 1966 and October 1967 for six-car trains. One of the rare Val d'Osne lamp posts of the network decorates the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs entrance.
Around Saint-Placide
- Jardin du Luxembourg, 700 m away — A garden begun in 1612 by Marie de' Medici, around a palace she modelled on the Pitti Palace in Florence. It holds a small model of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty, dating from 1870.
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Paris, 1400 m away — Collections gathered to teach young artists at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, founded under Louis XIV.
- Le Bon Marché, 600 m away — The world's first department store, opened in 1852, still one of the most elegant in Paris.
- Rue de Rennes, 30 m away — A major shopping street linking Saint-Germain-des-Prés to Montparnasse station.