Abbesses (, literally ''Abbesses'') is a station on

Paris Métro Line 12 Paris Métro Line 12 (opened as Line A; French: ''Ligne 12 du métro de Paris'') is one of the sixteen lines of the Paris Métro. It links Issy-les-Moulineaux, a suburban town southwest of Paris, to Mairie d'Aubervilliers, in the town of Auberv ...

, in the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

district and the

18th arrondissement The 18th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-huitième''. The arrondis ...

. Abbesses is the deepest station in the Paris Métro, at 36 metres (118 feet) below ground, and is located on the western side of the ''butte'' (hill) of Montmartre. Access to the platforms is occasionally by elevators, but they are typically accessed by decorated stairs.

Location

Nearby are the ''Montmartre'' district, the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre (church), the

Place du Tertre The Place du Tertre is a square in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France. Only a few streets away from Montmartre's Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and the Lapin Agile, it is near the summit of the city's elevated Montmartre quarter. Place du Ter ...

and the

Église Saint-Jean-de-Montmartre Saint-Jean de Montmartre () is a Roman Catholic parish church located at 19 Rue des Abbesses in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Situated at the foot of Montmartre, it is notable as the first example of reinforced concrete in church constructio ...

(

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

church). The station is named after the ''Place des Abbesses'', referring to the abbesses of the nearby abbey of the ''Dames-de-Montmartre''.

History

The station opened on 30 January 1913, three months after the extension of the

Nord-Sud company The Nord-Sud Company (English: North-South; french: Société du chemin de fer électrique souterrain Nord-Sud de Paris) was an operator of underground trains in Paris established in 1904, which built two lines (now Line 12 and part of Line 1 ...

's line A from

Pigalle Pigalle may refer to: Places ;Paris, France *Quartier Pigalle, an area in Paris around the Place Pigalle, on the border between the 9th and the 18th arrondissements *Place Pigalle, public square in the Quartier Pigalle at the foot of the Montmartre ...

to Jules Joffrin. On 27 March 1931, line A became line 12 of the ''Métro''.

Station layout

Architecture

The station's entrance, designed by

Hector Guimard Hector Guimard (, 10 March 1867 – 20 May 1942) was a French architect and designer, and a prominent figure of the Art Nouveau style. He achieved early fame with his design for the Castel Beranger, the first Art Nouveau apartment building ...

(1867–1942), is one of only two remaining glass-covered "dragonfly" entrances, known as ' (the other is located at

Porte Dauphine Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

, while a replica exists at Châtelet). Though a Guimard original, the ''édicule'' at Abbesses was originally located at Hôtel de Ville and was transferred to its current location in 1974. The entrance is technically anachronistic, since line 12 of the Paris metro was built by a competing firm, the

Nord-Sud Company The Nord-Sud Company (English: North-South; french: Société du chemin de fer électrique souterrain Nord-Sud de Paris) was an operator of underground trains in Paris established in 1904, which built two lines (now Line 12 and part of Line 1 ...

, which did not hire Guimard but engaged other architects to design its stations and station entrances.

Abbesses in popular culture

* Abbesses is featured in '' Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain''; a working title for the film was ''Amélie des Abbesses'' (''Amélie of the Abbesses''). Though set at Abbesses station, the film was actually shot at Porte des Lilas station, which has a disused platform that has been specially set up for filming. * The entrance to Abbesses metro station is featured near the beginning of music video for Howard Jones' ''

What Is Love "What Is Love (Baby Don't Hurt Me)" is a song recorded by Trinidadian-German Eurodance artist Haddaway for his debut album, ''The Album (Haddaway album), The Album'' (1993). The song was released in 1993 as the album's lead single. It was a hit ...

'' as well as several other locations around Paris *

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

has a messenger style bag in the Monogram Canvas line named after the station. * A cartoon version of the station appears in the official music video for "Flowers", the ninth track on ''

Émilie Simon Émilie Simon (; born 1978 in Montpellier, Occitanie, France) is a French singer, songwriter and composer of electronic music. Music ''Émilie Simon'' In May 2003, she released her debut album '' Émilie Simon''. The electronic album was cr ...

''. * "Abbesses" is also where Minette's fashion studio is located in a Nancy Drew PC game '' Danger By Design''. * The French DJ crew

Birdy Nam Nam Birdy Nam Nam are a DJ crew from France. Birdy Nam Nam has won several prizes throughout their career including the DMC Technics 2002 World TEAM Championships. Birdy Nam Nam's goal is to use the turntable player as an actual musical instrument. T ...

has composed a musical piece called Abbesses. Entree-station-abesses

* Featured in multiple scenes of the final episode of

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

original series ''

Sense8 ''Sense8'' (a play on the word '' sensate'' ) is an American science fiction drama streaming television series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. The production companies behind ''Sense8'' included th ...

''.

References

External links

Renovation works schedule from RATP web-site (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbesses (Paris Metro) Paris Métro stations in the 18th arrondissement of Paris Railway stations in France opened in 1912 Art Nouveau architecture in Paris Art Nouveau railway stations Paris Métro stations located underground