Voici un article en aglais inspiré par un article écrit en français et publié le 16 mars 2009.
I publish this post in English because I've just read a book where I was suprised to learn that "between 1927 and 1962 all but two of the original stations (designed by Guimard) were dismantled, the remaining ones being at the Porte Dauphine and Abbesses. Many of them have been replaced with reproductions" (in Andrew BALLANTYNE, Architecture, A very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2002.)
On march 16, 2009, I published a post in French about the metro entrance of the Cité station. It is an example of the Style "art nouveau" about which I also wrote several posts (for instance one about a building located 21 rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie).
This entrance way was designed for the inauguration of the first line of the underground when an Universal exposition took place in Paris in 1900. Then, the full name of the "métropolitain" was written above the main entrance. The abbreviation "métro" appeared in the 1920's.
You can't not be amazed when looking at Art Nouveau settings designed according to plants and flowers.
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