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Key figures

Origin and history

The Guimard building of the Abbesses station is a wrought iron and glass access, designed in 1900 by the architect Hector Guimard for the Compagnie du Métropolitain de Paris. Originally installed at the Hôtel de Ville station (line 1, rue de Lobau), it was registered at the Monuments Historiques in 1965, then dismantled in 1972 to allow for underground parking. Its Art Nouveau style, nicknamed "bellula" for its characteristic glass, contrasts with the sober aesthetics of the former North-South line stations, such as Abbesses, where it was resettled in 1974.

The Abbesses station, opened in 1913 on line A of the Nord-Sud network (now line 12 in 1931), is the deepest of Paris intra-murals, −36 meters underground. His Guimard edicle, although foreign to the original history of the station, was transplanted there for its heritage value. A plaque recalls this historical anomaly: the North-South, a competitor of the CMP, used wrought iron and ceramic balustrades, much more sober. Ledicule, once again protected in 1978 and 2016, now embodies the mixture of the architectural heritages of the Paris metro.

Access to the resort, unique and located Place des Abbesses, combines fixed staircase and elevators to make up for its exceptional depth. The frescoes of the spiral staircases, renewed in 2006 after deteriorations, celebrate Montmartre, an emblematic district where the resort is registered. The Guimard edicle, with its cast iron structure and plant motifs, remains a rare testimony of the Art Nouveau entrances of the metro, despite its late displacement. Its successive inscription in the Historical Monuments underscores its importance in the French industrial and artistic heritage.

The Abbesses station itself, with its quays decorated with "North-South" earthenware (brown and blue, geometric patterns), illustrates the visual identity of the old company. The eardrums still indicate the original directions (Porte de la Chapelle, Porte de Versailles), while the low vault recalls the technical constraints associated with the old gypsum quarries of the hill. In 2025, the addition of track separators modernized the station, without altering its historical character.

Beyond its functional role, Abbesses has become a cultural place: it appears in films such as Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) or music videos (Sexion d'Assaut, Birdy Nam Nam). Its Guimard edicle, the centrepiece of Parisian heritage, attracts as much for its aesthetics as for its turbulent history, symbolizing the evolution of the metro and its uses, between transport and collective memory.

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