Saint-Jacques (Paris Métro)

Infobox Paris metro
Name=Saint-Jacques
Day=April 24th
Year=1906
Access=
Municipality=the 14th arrondissement of Paris
Zone=1
Next=
X=133
Y=124

Saint-Jacques is a station of the Paris Métro, named after the "Place Saint-Jacques". The "Boulevard Saint-Jacques" and the "Rue Faubourg Saint-Jacques" also intersect the square. It is one of only a few Metro stations that have a combined entrance and ticket hall at street-level.

History

Before the Romans reached the area, the road now known as the "Rue Faubourg Saint-Jacques", was a well-used track. It became the Roman road to Aurelianum (Orleans) and was called the Via Superior. It became the central street (the "cardo maximus") of Lutetia, the Roman city, which was in the current Latin Quarter (in the vicinity of the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Panthéon).

In the Middle Ages it became known as the "Grand-Rue-Oultre-Petit-Pont" (the great road beyond the Petit Pont, which connects the Île de la Cité to the Left Bank of the Seine).

In about 1230, the street took its current name referring to the pilgimage route that left Paris for Santiago de Compostela from the church of "Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie" (demolished in 1802 — its remains are the "Tour Saint-Jacob" near Châtelet station) by the streets of "Rue Saint-Jacques", "Rue Faubourg Saint-Jacques" and "Rue de la Tombe-Issoire".