Saint-Jacques () is a station on Line 6 of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architec ...

. It serves Place Saint-Jacques in the 14th arrondissement. The Boulevard Saint-Jacques and Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques also intersect the square. It is one of only a few Métro stations that have a combined entrance and ticket hall at street-level.

Location

The station is located in the middle of the Boulevard Saint-Jacques, at the intersection with the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques and Rue de la Tombe-Issoire.

History

The station opened as part of the former Line 2 South on 24 April 1906, when it was extended from Passy to Place d'Italie. On 14 October 1907, Line 2 South was incorporated into Line 5. It was incorporated into Line 6 on 12 October 1942. Saint-Jacques station was one of a number of Paris locations of

Stanley Donen Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kell ...

's 1963 film ''

Charade Charade or charades may refer to: Games * Charades, originally "acting charades", a parlor game Films/TV * ''Charade'' (1953 film), an American film featuring James Mason * ''Charade'' (1963 film), an American film starring Cary Grant and A ...

'', starring

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

and Audrey Hepburn.

Name

The station is named after the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques, which was originally the Roman road to

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Lutetia The Gallo-Roman town of ''Lutetia'' (''Lutetia Parisiorum'' in Latin, in French ''Lutèce'') was the predecessor of the modern-day city of Paris. It was founded in about the middle of the 3rd century BCE by the Parisii, a Gallic tribe. Trac ...

. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

it became the pilgrimage route of St James (French: ''Saint-Jacques'') from Paris to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

in Spain. Hence the street inside Paris' wall became known as Rue Saint-Jacques and its extension outside the wall through suburban development (French: ''

Faubourg "Faubourg" () is an ancient French term historically equivalent to " fore-town" (now often termed suburb or ). The earliest form is , derived from Latin , 'out of', and Vulgar Latin (originally Germanic) , 'town' or 'fortress'. Traditionally, t ...

''), became known as the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques. The station was the location of the ''Barrière Saint-Jacques'' (known as the ''Barrière d'Arcueil'' during the French Revolution), a gate built for the collection of taxation as part of the

Wall of the Farmers-General A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

; the gate was built between 1784 and 1788 and demolished in the nineteenth century.

Passenger services

Access

The only access to the station is on the central Boulevard Saint-Jacques, at the junction with the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques and La Tombe-Issoire. It is one of the few stations to have an

edicule In ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (plural ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns and typically framing a statue,"aedicula, n." ...

above the tracks, from which one accesses the public road and to the platforms.

Station layout

Platforms

Saint-Jacques is a standard configuration station. It has two platforms separated by metro tracks. On the other hand, it is distinguished by its location, on ground-level, and its decoration. In the direction of Charles de Gaulle–Étoile, the tracks enter underground at the exit of the station, while, towards Nation, they rise above the ground. The station is therefore aerial and the platforms are equipped with canopies supported by poles located in the middle of the platforms. The lighting is made by means of simple fluorescent tubes. The right walls are exposed stone protected by a backlit glazing. The name of the station, also backlit, is written with

Parisine Parisine is a typeface created by Jean-François Porchez. Distributed by Typofonderie. It is used in Paris Métro, tramways, buses and RER parts operated by the RATP Group in Île-de-France. Starting in 2015, the Osaka City Subway in Japan ...

font. The seats are ''Motte'' style, gray, installed on circular masonry benches covered with flat gray tiles. This tiling also covered the ground until 2018 when it was replaced by asphalt. The platforms do not have advertising. This development is a unique case on the network.

Bus services

The station is served by lines 64, 216 and Orlybus of the

RATP Bus Network The RATP bus network covers the entire territory of the city of Paris and the vast majority of its near suburbs. Operated by the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP), this constitutes a dense bus network complementary to other public ...

Places of interest

Nearby are the

La Santé Prison La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) (french: Maison d'arrêt de la Santé or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the ...

and the

Institut d'astrophysique de Paris The Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (translated: Paris Institute of Astrophysics) is a research institute in Paris, France. The Institute is part of the Sorbonne University and is associated with the CNRS Centre national de la recherche scientifi ...

Gallery

File:Saint-Jacques édicule.jpg, Entrance at Saint-Jacques File:Construction de la ligne 6 - Station Saint-Jacques.jpg, Erecting of the walls at Saint-Jacques in 1903 File:Metro Paris Ligne 6, station Saint-Jacques.jpg, Line 6 platforms at Saint-Jacques

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Jacques (Paris Metro) Paris Métro stations in the 14th arrondissement of Paris Railway stations in France opened in 1906