3.6.1. METRO RENOVATION FOR MASS VISITS

Run-down and extremely crowded, the Château Rouge station had to be renovated...

Vito

In 2015-2017, it was.

The city's 302 other stations are spartan.

Though its tracks lead only to the North African and African neighborhood far from the center with no connecting lines,  luxurious hand-painted tiles compose the decor now.

Roots refer to the diversity of  residents' origins.

They come from the  Sèvres National Manufactory, which Louis XV founded in 1740...

     1817 / zoom

 ...and that Cameroon's Barthélémy Toguo hand-painted.

 Photo and article (in French) / zoom

 The National Library exhibited his work in 2024.

That decor combines royal culture and immigration in a way that is welcoming and prestigious. Is it directed to outsiders ?

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Going the same way:

• Existing infrastructure.
• City-backed innovations.
• An spectacular new center for music.
• The population itself. 

In brief:

• Metro renovation designed for mass visits
• 
  
• Accessibility

• The Barbès métro station

• Another monument: A movie theater of the 1920's

• The washhouse that literature immortalized

• The couturiers' cooperative, now City-backed

• The Institute for the Cultures of Islam 

• World and urban culture for the planet?

• A portal toward the music of the outskirts

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Next,

Accessibility