Fulgence Bienvenüe

Fulgence Bienvenüe (27 January 1852–3 August 1936) was a French civil engineer, best known for his role in the construction of the Paris Métro.

A native of Uzel in Brittany, he graduated as a civil engineer in 1872. His first assignment was the construction of various railway lines in the Mayenne area. In the course of this work, his left arm was crushed in a construction accident and had to be amputated. He relocated to Paris in 1886 and became chief engineer for the Paris Métro in 1896. He would supervise its construction for more than three decades, finally retiring on 6 December 1932.

On 30 June 1933, Avenue du Maine station on the Metro was renamed Bienvenüe in his honor. The naming ceremony took place in his presence; there was a last-minute scramble to repaint the station's new nameboards when it was discovered that the unusual dieresis in his name had been omitted (making the French word for "welcome"). In 1942 the station was linked to the adjacent Montparnasse station, forming a single station named Montparnasse-Bienvenüe.

References

* Bindi, A. & Lefeuvre, D. (1990). "Le Métro de Paris: Histoire d'hier à demain," Rennes: Ouest-France. ISBN 2737302048. fr icon