Gare d'Orsay
Gare d'Orsay | |
---|---|
Heavy rail | |
General information | |
Location | Quai d'Orsay/Rue de Lille 75343 Paris, France |
Coordinates | 48°51′37″N 2°19′31″E / 48.860283°N 2.325392°E |
Owned by | |
Line(s) | Paris–Bordeaux railway |
Tracks | 16 |
Construction | |
Architect | Victor Laloux |
Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
History | |
Opened | 1900 |
Closed | 1939 |
Previous names | Gare d'Orleans (Quai d'Orsay) |
Key dates | |
1986 | Reopened as the Musée d'Orsay |
Location | |
Gare d'Orsay is a former Paris railway station and hotel, built in 1900 to designs by
History
Palais d'Orsay
In the early 19th century, the site was occupied by a military barracks and the
After the fall of the
Construction of the new station
Towards the end of the 19th century, the
The new terminal station, originally known as the Gare d'Orléans (Quai d'Orsay), was in a culturally sensitive location, surrounded by elegant buildings such as the
The train shed was built as a steel and glass arch over the platforms and passenger concourse, with a span of 40 metres (130 feet) and measuring 138 metres (453 feet) in length and 32 metres (105 feet) wide over the 16 tracks. Passenger facilities incorporated many of the latest technological features, such as electric baggage lifts and escalators.[3]
The electric track system was modelled on the
The station opened to passenger traffic on 28 May 1900.[1][2]
Decline and closure
Advancements in the railways in the early 20th century led to the introduction of much longer mainline trains. Although the Gare d'Orsay offered a convenient central location, the site was restricted and there was no possibility of lengthening the platforms to accommodate the new, longer trains. The national rail operator
Although largely disused, the Gare d'Orsay came into use for some noteworthy events. During the
The empty Gare d'Orsay also served as a
Line re-opening
The railway line terminating at Orsay was brought back into passenger service when a 1-kilometre (0.62 mi) extension was built in a tunnel along the bank of the Seine, connecting the PO line to the
Museum
In the 1960s, the appetite for replacing old buildings with modernist structures was gathering pace, and historic sites such as Les Halles market were being demolished. Plans were drawn up to demolish the Gare d'Orsay and replace it with a new building, and proposals for an airport, a government ministry building and a school of architecture were considered. Permission was granted to construct a hotel on the site, but in 1971 Jacques Duhamel, the minister of culture under President Georges Pompidou, intervened. The station building was in a sensitive location on the Seine facing the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre, and it was feared that a modern building would not fit in with the surrounding architecture. In 1973 the Gare d'Orsay was designated a protected Monument historique.[10]
At the time, the French Ministry of Culture was facing problems with a lack of exhibition space, particularly in the
The project to convert the disused railway station into a museum was announced in 1978 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.[11] The architects for the conversion were the architects' firm ACT led by Pierre Colbloc .[12] The Italian architect Gae Aulenti developed the interior design of the gallery.[13] The building reopened as the Musée d'Orsay in December 1986. The former train shed now serves as the grand hall of the museum, with large works by sculptors such as Auguste Rodin, Jean-Joseph Perraud and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux on permanent display, overlooked by the large, ornate station clock. The former railway hotel now holds the paintings collection, displaying works by Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh among others.[3]
Dates | Company or line | Preceding station | Following station |
---|---|---|---|
1900–1937 | Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans
Paris–Bordeaux railway |
Terminus | Pont Saint-Michel
|
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d Baer, Christopher T. (March 2005). "PRR Chronology" (PDF). The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d Schneider 1998, p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e f "Histoire du musée - Un musée dans une gare". www.musee-orsay.fr. Musée d'Orsay. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ Zola, Émile (1892). La Débâcle [The Downfall] (in French). Paris: Bibliothèque Charpentier. Part 3, chapter 8.
- ^ Formentin, Charles, ed. (1897). "La Nouvell Gare d'Orléans". Le Magasin pittoresque (in French). Vol. 16, no. II. Ancienne Librairie Furne. pp. 108–110. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ Schneider 1998, p. 11.
- ^ a b c Schneider 1998, p. 9.
- ISBN 978-2-35428-014-7. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ Janssoone ·, Didier (2019). Les 40 Ans de la Ligne C du RER 1979-2019 (La Vie du Rail). Paris: Éditions La Vie Du Rail.
- ^ Schneider 1998, pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b Schneider 1998, p. 12.
- ^ Schneider 1998, p. 19.
- ^ Schneider 1998, p. 35.
Sources
- Schneider, Andrea Kupfer (1998). Creating the Musée d'Orsay: The Politics of Culture in France. State College, Pennsylvania: Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-03834-6. Retrieved 24 June 2023.