Paris Métro stations that are sights in themselves

The Paris Métro is old and dense. It opened on July 19, 1900, and today it has 16 lines and 321 stations, with about 550 metres between stops on average. Wikipedia counts 61 stations where you can change between lines and about 1.523 billion passengers in 2025, which is roughly 4.17 million a day. Lines 1, 4 and 14 run fully automated. Châtelet-Les Halles, with five Métro lines and three RER lines, is one of the largest metro stations in the world, and it has its own exit guide.

Some stations have been decorated so thoroughly that they are worth a trip on their own. Four of them follow, and two more are sights above ground.

Concorde: a law on the walls

Concorde serves Lines 1, 8 and 12. Line 1 opened here on August 13, 1900, and Line 12's platforms on November 5, 1910. In 1991 the original Nord-Sud decoration on Line 12 was removed and replaced by an artwork by Françoise Schein: blue letters on white square tiles that spell out the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Above ground, Place de la Concorde is dominated by the Luxor Obelisk, given to France by Egypt in 1829 and raised there in 1836.

Louvre-Rivoli: the museum starts early

The station on Line 1 was first called Louvre and was renamed in 1989, after the museum's new entrance opened at the nearby Palais Royal station. Its platforms were decorated in September 1968 at the initiative of the culture minister André Malraux, who wanted the station to be an antechamber of the museum, with reproductions of Louvre artworks on the platforms. The reproductions were withdrawn in 2011 during a renovation, and nine casts were put back in March 2016.

Arts et Métiers: a submarine under the 3rd arrondissement

The Line 3 platforms opened on October 19, 1904 and the Line 11 platforms on April 28, 1935. In October 1994, for the bicentenary of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, the Line 11 platforms were redesigned by the Belgian comics artist François Schuiten, working with the writer Benoît Peeters. They are covered not in the usual ceramic tiles but in copper plates held together by rivets, in a steampunk style that recalls the science fiction of Jules Verne. The station is named after the Conservatoire, which includes the Musée des Arts et Métiers.

Abbesses: the deepest, until 2025

At 36 metres below ground, Abbesses on Line 12 was the deepest station in the Métro until Villejuif-Gustave Roussy passed it in 2025. Its Hector Guimard entrance has its own story.

Bir-Hakeim: the Métro on a bridge

Bir-Hakeim, on Line 6, opened on April 24, 1906 under the name Grenelle and was renamed in June 1949 to commemorate the battle of Bir Hakeim. It is an elevated station on the left bank of the Pont de Bir-Hakeim over the Seine, and Wikipedia says it is the closest Métro station to the Eiffel Tower. A scene in Last Tango in Paris takes place here. The Passy viaduct that carries the line dates from 1903 to 1905.

Denfert-Rochereau: the way to the Catacombs

Denfert-Rochereau is on Lines 4 and 6, with RER B at an adjacent station of the same name. The Line 6 platforms opened on April 24, 1906 and the Line 4 platforms on October 30, 1909, and the Line 6 walls and vault are covered in white bevelled ceramic tiles. The entrance to the Catacombs of Paris is a small green pavilion on the square about thirty metres from the station.

Each of these has a name you can type. The accents are optional in the game, so Arts et Métiers can be typed without the é.