While some of the names on the Metro – from Charles de Gaulle to Franklin D Roosevelt – no need explanation, others are named after figures you might not have heard of.
Here’s a look at five stations that are named after lesser-known but still important figures from French history.
Pierre Georges aka Colonel Fabien. All images used are in Universal Public Domain
Colonel Fabien (Metro Line 2, Paris 10th district)
Not a real colonel, in fact a member of the Young Communist movement during the Second World War. Pierre Georges became a hero of the Resistance when he shot dead a German soldier at Barbès-Rochechouart Metro station in July 1941, the first killing of German military personnel in Paris.
He would later lead a group of communist fighters called the ‘Colonne Fabien’ (the Column Fabien which is how he acquired the Resistance codename Colonel Fabien) to continue fighting in the Alsace region, where he was killed in 1944.
Colonel Fabien Metro station was previously called Combat after the ‘Barrière du Combat’, a gate built for the collection of taxation as part of the Wall of the Farmers-General, but renamed Colonel Fabien in 1945 honouring the memory of Pierre Georges.
Singer Monique Serf, known as Barbara
Barbara (Line 4, in the Paris suburb of Montrouge/Bagneaux)
The newest addition to the Paris Metro network (along with Bagneaux Lucie-Aubric, both of which opened in January 2022) this is also the first station with a name chosen by the public; the residents of the suburb of Bagneaux.
Barbara – born Monique Serf – was a hugely successful singer in the 1960s and 70s, selling more than a million copies of her album ‘L’Aigle Noir’ in one day in 1970 and repeating the feat again in 1996 with her final album ‘Barbara’.
Having experienced a traumatic upbringing as a Jew during the Second World War, her melancholic and hauntingly beautiful voice struck a chord with both French and international audiences alike. She is buried in the local cemetery at Bagneaux close to the Metro station.
Marshal Joseph Gallieni
Gallieni (Line 3, in the Paris suburb of Bagnolet)
Opened in 1971, the Metro station Gallieni was named after the military commander Joseph Gallieni whose ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking probably saved Paris from occupation of German forces during World War One.
Something of a legend in France, Gallieni organised and commandeered a large fleet of Paris taxis to transport troops close to the Ourcq River to fight during the Battle Of The Marne, after total gridlock on the transport network prevented troop reinforcements from getting to the battlefields. The fleet became known as ‘The Taxis Of The Marne’.
Five years after his death in 1916, Gallieni received the posthumous honour of being created Marshal of France by the French Government in recognition of his services during the war.
Compose Ignace Joseph Pleyel
Carrefour-Pleyel (Line 13, in the Paris suburb of St Denis)
Located close to the Stade De France in Saint-Denis, the Carrefour-Pleyel Metro station is named after the esteemed Austrian-French composer and music publisher Ignace Joseph Pleyel. He is probably best remembered for founding the Pleyel and Cie piano factory in 1807, whose premises on the Rue des Pianos were close to where the Metro station is located today.
A student of fellow Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, Pleyel would become an accomplished organist before turning his attention to the business of music, publishing works by the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. The pianos that Pleyel manufactured were endorsed by the famous pianist Frédéric Chopin who often performed at the Salle Pleyel, a music venue owned by Pleyel on the rue Rochechouart in the 9th arrondissement (the venue still exists today, located on the prestigious Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré).
Claude-Philibert Barthelot, Count de Rambuteau
haireau (Line 11 in the 1st arrondissement of Paris)
The rebuilding of Paris during the mid-19th century is almost always credited to Napoléon III and Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, but the groundwork was laid seventeen years earlier, starting in 1833 by another visionary; Claude-Philibert Barthelot, Count de Rambuteau.
Préfet of the Seine area under King Louis XIV, Rambuteau was tasked with bringing Parisians clean water, air and shade, following the cholera epidemic that had devastated the capital.
The first major artery that pierced the centre of Paris is named after him; Rue Rambuteau, completed in 1838.
In the fifteen years he was Préfet, 180km of sidewalks were built and trees planted and over 8,000 gaslights installed, replacing oil lamps. He installed 1,700 fountains across the city centre, including two in the Place de la Concorde that remain in place today, and 200 km of water mains to provide clean drinking water.
The Metro station opened in 1935, located on the Rue Rambuteau.
Londoner William Hatfield has just released his debut book ‘Historical Figures Of The Paris Metro (volume one)’. The book is available on Amazon here. He currently resides in Dalat, Vietnam where he is in the process of writing volume two of the book and starting a project called Streets Of Paris which you can find out more about here.