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Gare Montparnasse
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The train station of Montparnasse (Gare
Montparnasse) in Paris, France opened in 1840. A second new
station was built between 1848-1852 and was completely rebuilt after World War II
and renovated completely in 1969.
Turn-of-the-century Montparnasse defined the term "starving artist" as
virtually penniless painters, sculptors, writers, poets and composers came from around the world to thrive in
the creative atmosphere and for the cheap rent at artist communes such as La Ruche. Living
without running water, in damp, unheated "studios" often as not overrun by
rats, many sold their works for a few francs just to buy food. Jean Cocteau
once said that poverty was a luxury in Montparnasse. First promoted by art
dealers such as Henry Kahnweiler, today, works by those
desperately poor artists sell in the millions of dollars.
It is most
famous for a few incidents:
- the derailment on October 22, 1895 of the Granville-Paris Express that overran the
buffer stop. The engine careened across almost 100 feet (30 meters) of the
station concourse, crashed through a two-foot thick wall, shot across a
terrace and sailed out of the station, plummeting onto the Place de Rennes
30 feet (10 meters) below where it stood on its nose.
- The old train station is also the place where, on August 25, 1944, the
German military
governor of Paris,
General Von Choltitz, surrendered his garrison to the French General Leclerc
after disobeying an insane Adolf Hitler’s direct order to destroy the
city.
Today, the station is used for the trains to Brittany, and the TGV to Tours, Bordeaux. There is also a metro station. There is a high-speed travelator on
trial.
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