Barbès – Rochechouart 4.21

Barbès – Rochechouart is a station on Paris Métro Line 2 and Line 4 at the point where the 9th, 10th, and 18th arrondissements all share a single point. The station is at the junction of Boulevard Barbes, named for the revolutionary, Armand Barbès, Boulevard de Rochechouart, named for the abbess, Marguerite de Rochechouart, Boulevard de la Chapelle and Boulevard de Magenta.The station is the former location of the Barrière Poissonnière, a gate in the Wall of the Farmers-General built for the collection of excise taxes (the octroi). The gate was built between 1784 and 1788, and it was demolished in the nineteenth century.HistoryThe elevated line-2 station was opened on 31 January 1903 as the Boulevard Barbès station, as part of the extension of line 2 from Anvers to Bagnolet (now called Alexandre Dumas). It was renamed to its current name eight days later. Line 2 descends into a tunnel to the west of the station. The underground line-4 station was opened on 21 April 1908 as part of the first section of the line from Châtelet to Porte de Clignancourt. The disastrous fire of 10 August 1903 that resulted in eighty deaths at Couronnes station began here.