Franklin D. Roosevelt (Paris Métro)

Franklin D. Roosevelt is a station of the Paris Métro serving both Lines 1 and 9.

History

Originally, the two stations Marbeuf (Line 1) and Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées (Line 9) were independent because their lines were part of two different rail networks. The station Marbeuf was opened in 1900 and named for the street of the same name, which in turn was named after the marquise de Marbeuf, who had developed the area in the 1770s and was guillotined during the Reign of Terror. The station Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées was often simply just called "Rond-Point." The Marbeuf station also assumed the name "Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées" in 1942 when the stations were merged into one, and the new station was then sometimes called "Marbeuf - Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées."

This new station became Franklin D. Roosevelt station in 1946. Essentially, the avenue Victor-Emmanuel III took the name "Franklin D. Roosevelt avenue" at this point, in honor of the American president who had been an ally of France during World War II, as opposed to Victor Emmanuel III, the king of Italy who, while allied with France during the First World War, had fought against the French while presiding over Fascist Italy during the Second World War.

The station was renovated after the Second World War and the work introduced a new artistic technique known as "gemmail," which is often called "block glass" or "glass brick" in English. Sometimes it is also called a "station musée" (station-museum). While one can find some of the glass brick along the platform for Line 9, more of it can be found in along the platform serving Line 1. The inauguration of the finished station involved a large ceremony on the night of March 1 1957, with two ramps equipped with tables of food for the invited guests.

With 12.19m passengers annually, Franklin D. Roosevelt is the fourteenth busiest station in the Paris Métro system.

Attractions

• Access to the Petit and Grand Palais
• Beginning of the large amount of department stores on the Champs-Élysées (Virgin, Cartes IGN, etc.)
• Access to the tree-lined part of the Champs-Élysées

Sources

• Roland Pozzo di Borgo, Les Champs-Élysées: trois siècles d'histoire, 1997
• Gérard Roland, Stations de Métro. Paris: Bonneton éditeur, 2003. 231 pp. Revised and expanded edition, ISBN 2-86253-307-6.

See also

• List of stations of the Paris Métro