Chaussée d'Antin-Lafayette Metro station, the bicentenary of the French Revolution

Chaussée d'Antin-Lafayette Metro station is a metro station where lines 7 and 9 of the Paris metro intersect, located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The station has 6 entrances. Access 1, "Grands magasins - Galeries Lafayette", opens at the corner of boulevard Haussmann and rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, opposite Galeries Lafayette Haussmann.

Development of Chaussée d'Antin-Lafayette Metro station

The station was opened on November 5, 1910, when the first section of line 7 alone went into service between Opéra and Porte de la Villette.

On June 3, 1923, the station became the north-east terminus of line 9 (from Exelmans), replacing the previous terminus at Saint-Augustin, and remained so until June 30, 1928, when the line was extended by a further station to Richelieu - Drouot.

The platforms on both lines, 75 meters long, are of standard configuration.

Renovation of Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette metro station

The first renovation in "partial Andreu-Motte" style took place in the 1980s.

In 1989, Chaussée d'Antin station was renamed Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette, because of its location at the start of rue La Fayette, which pays homage to Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. At the same time, the two stops on lines 7 and 9 are receiving special cultural amenities to complement the modernization of their platforms.

Commemorating the Revolution at Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette  Metro station

It commemorates the bicentenary of the French Revolution, and was financed by Galeries Lafayette, which serves the station. Each of the elliptical vaults is decorated with a fresco in painted sheet metal, created by French painter Jean-Paul Chambas in 1989. Jean-Paul Chambas is a contemporary French painter born on March 11, 1947 in Vic-Fezensac (Gers). In 1971, he began working as a theater decorator, an activity that took him as far as the Paris Opera.

A car taking the metro?

On April 24, 2012, a car crashed into one of the subway entrances at Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette station, causing no injuries. The driver had mistaken it for the entrance to an underground parking lot leading to the Galeries Lafayette basement. A similar accident occurred on September 24, 2018 on another staircase leading to the same station, also without causing any casualties.