Gare St. Lazare
Labels :
Arman,
Gare St. Lazare,
Monet,
Paris 8,
Paris architecture
The St. Lazare station is the oldest railway station in Paris. The first line, between Paris and St. Germain (suburb), opened in 1837. The station was then actually close to the bridge (Pont de l’Europe) which you can see on the Google map. (Some of the photos, including the top one, are taken from this “Europe Bridge”, where Rue de Constantinople, Rue de Londres, Rue de Vienne, Rue de St. Petersburg, Rue de Liège and Rue de Madrid meet.) Rather quickly, needing more space for new lines, the station was soon moved to its present location.The present station building was ready for the Universal Exposition in 1889 – as also the Eiffel tower. On one of my photos, you can see a bridge which connected the station to a big hotel which was then also built. The hotel is still there.
The station has today some 27 tracks and is the second biggest in Paris, but mostly today used for local or nearby traffic (Normandy). It was the station you used when you travelled by ship to the States, via Cherbourg, or to England, e.g. via Dieppe. Today some 80 million people use the station on an annual basis.
Some of the impressionist painters used to live quite close to the station and it has frequently been painted. Monet made seven paintings in 1877.The station has also often been referred to in literature. The Da Vinci Code has also some actions here, but (as often) there are some wrong descriptions and details.
I showed a small statue by Arman with clocks the other day. There is another one outside the station, similar, but with suitcases.
There are also some photos from the connected metro station.
You can find the original photos from the patchwork above on my other blog - "Peter - photos".
