Opening of the Bastille station 19 juillet 1900 (≈ 1900)
Line 1, segment Porte de Vincennes–Porte Maillot.
29 mai 1978
Registration for historical monuments
Registration for historical monuments 29 mai 1978 (≈ 1978)
Protection of the Guimard edicle rue de Lyon.
années 1980
Displacement of the column
Displacement of the column années 1980 (≈ 1980)
Transferred Beaumarchais Boulevard after 1978.
2020
Reopening of the Saint Martin Canal
Reopening of the Saint Martin Canal 2020 (≈ 2020)
Visibility recovered from the metal viaduct.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Key figures
Hector Guimard - Architect
Creator of the Art Nouveau buildings of the metro.
Origin and history
The Guimard column of the Bastille station was one of the Art Nouveau entrances designed by Hector Guimard for the Paris metro at the beginning of the 20th century. Originally located on Rue de Lyon, it was listed as a historical monument in 1978, before being moved to Boulevard Beaumarchais. This edicle, characteristic of Guimard's floral and organic style, embodied the visual identity of the emerging metropolitan network, marking a break with the classical architectures of the time.
The Bastille station, opened in 1900 for line 1, was gradually extended to lines 5 (1906) and 8 (1931). The Guimard edicle, although preserved, lost its original function after the destruction in 1962 of another Chinese flag-shaped entrance pavilion, located in Place de la Bastille. The successive renovations of the wharfs ( 1960–2000) modernized the station, but the school remains a rare testimony of the Art Nouveau heritage in Paris' public space.
The move of the school in 1978 reflects tensions between heritage preservation and urban development. Its inscription in historical monuments emphasized its artistic value, while the station itself became a place of revolutionary memory, with frescoes evoking the capture of the Bastille in 1789. Today, it coexistes with contemporary elements such as the palier doors (2011) and the reopening of the Saint-Martin Canal (2020), illustrating the superposition of the epochs in the Parisian landscape.
