Tolbiac: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 7.
Why this name?
The station takes its name from rue de Tolbiac, which preserves the old name of a town in the Cologne region, now Zülpich. It opened with the extension of line 10 from Place d'Italie to Porte de Choisy, then was transferred to line 7, which now links Pré-Saint-Gervais or Porte de la Villette to the southern terminus at Porte d'Ivry; line 10 was then redirected to Jussieu. It lies under avenue d'Italie, between Place d'Italie and Maison Blanche.
Anecdote
Maison Blanche, the next station, marks the end of the shared trunk before the branches to Mairie d'Ivry and Villejuif - Louis Aragon. The station name is in faience, in the original interwar CMP style, and its entrances have Dervaux-style railings, with lamp-posts, masts or totems at some of them.
Around Tolbiac
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, 900 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.
- Manufacture des Gobelins, 1250 m away — A royal workshop founded in the 17th century that still weaves exceptional tapestries for the French state today.
- Butte-aux-Cailles, 900 m away — A former village of cobbled lanes and low houses, spared from Haussmann's grand renovations.