Some people pass by it every day without even knowing that it's a former ghost station. Located on line 10 of the Paris metro, in the heart of the Latin Quarter, the Cluny - La Sorbonne station hides many secrets. In particular, this station is one of the metro's now-famous ghost stations.
For the record, it was on February 15, 1930 that the Cluny - La Sorbonne station, simply called "Cluny" at the time, went into service for the very first time. At the time, the station was intended to serve the extension of line 10 from Odéon to Place d'Italie.
Like many other stations in the network, the station closed on September 2, 1939, as the Second World War began to hit Europe. But unlike most other stations, which would welcome passengers again as soon as the war was over, Cluny station would not reopen because of its proximity to the Maubert-Mutualité and Odéon stations. It would remain a ghost station for 49 years!
It wasn't until December 15, 1988 that the station reopened under the name " Cluny - La Sorbonne ". So why did this station reopen after so many years? The explanation is simple: the station was reopened to ensure connections with RER lines B and C at the nearby Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame station.
To mark the reopening, RATP and the French Ministry of Culture jointly commissioned artist Jean Bazaine to create a mosaic. Bazaine created a 400 m2 mosaic as decoration, giving rise to the famous " Ailes et Flammes" (Wings and Flames ). A second monumental work can be seen in this station, more precisely at the transfer point between the metro station and the RER. Designed by Claude Maréchal, it extends over 600 m2 and forms a continuous ribbon between Cluny - La Sorbonne and Saint-Michel.
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