Metro Magic: Liège, A Tiled Tribute to Franco-Belgian Friendship

This is the 10th in a series of stories about the wonders of the Paris Metro System. 

I’m a bus person. I like seeing the world go by at street level — the fleeting character studies, the fashion trends, the familiar monuments, the river, the bridges, the dog (and cat) walkers.

And, fortunately, I’m usually not in a hurry.

There are good reasons in Paris, however, to take the metro. It’s faster, given the ongoing traffic issues in central Paris. The underground tunnels offer music from RATP–auditioned musicians. 

And large-scale ads tell you what’s going on in town, what to buy, and who to see.

As an added bonus, there are hidden metro station gems that provide historic and artistic respite from the transport grind.

One of these Metro Magic treasures is Liège, on Line 13 between the 8th and 9th arrondissements, under the rue d’Amsterdam, near Gare Saint-Lazare.  

The station is unique in many ways, but the key highlight is its salute to Franco-Belgian friendship through a series of ceramic frescos of Belgian land and life — some dark and haunting and some more contemporary, reminiscent of the warm palette of 1950s travel postcards. 

The tile frescos show landscapes and monuments from the province of Liège in Belgium. Liège was the site of the first major battle when the Germans invaded Belgium in World War I and faced courageous resistance. 

The Beginning 

The Liège station opened in 1911 with the name Berlin. As World War I began, the station closed. When it reopened after the war, the station and the street nearby were renamed Liège (since Germany was, shall we say, country non grata). The new name honored the Belgians’ fierce fight against the Germans at the beginning of the war. 

The station became a phantom station again at the start of World War II and remained closed until 1968, when it reopened with limited hours. 

In 1982, the 18 Welkenraedt ceramic panels decorating the station’s curved walls were created by two artists from Liège to pay tribute to their province. 

An Exceptional Station Design  

Liège is one of the few metro stations with separate platforms rather than facing platforms because of the narrow street above. The unique design of the station gave each artist a “gallery” of their own for their nine panels.

The Northbound Platform 

The northbound platform (toward Asnières-Gennevilliers/Les Courtilles/Saint Denis) features nine frescos of well-known churches, castles, and villages of the province created by Daniel Hicter. 

He chose a palette of blue and white for his tiles, reminiscent perhaps of Delft ceramics (or perhaps Portuguese azulejos tiles), presenting a timeless and somewhat somber Flemish feeling. 

He pays homage to the Coo twin waterfalls in the Amblève Valley — the highest natural waterfall in Belgium.

Hicter’s choice of a famous auto racetrack seems somewhat out of place, but does add a modern touch to Liège’s history.

The monumental lion (300 tons) rises proudly on the Le Barrage de La Gileppe (dam), an iconic Liège landmark.

The Southbound Platform 

The southbound platform (toward Châtillon-Montrouge) features nine works created by Marie-Claire Van Vuchelen (the first woman artist to be represented in the Paris metro).

These panels are in color with a warm (yellow, ochre, brown) palette, introducing an interesting contrast in artistic styles and moods between her approach and the more classical (heavier) Flemish style of Hicter. 

She portrays castles, town halls, and rural village life of the province in semi-pointillist style.

The Chateau de Wégimont is a renaissance castle that played a somber role in WWII as a Lebensborn (Fount of Life) Nazi SS maternity hospital for the children who met Aryan standards.

Van Vuchelen portrayed several charming rural scenes in her panels. 

The Grand Curtius is a museum of archaeology and decorative arts on the banks of the Meuse River in Liège.

The Perron column/fountain is an important symbol of liberty in Liège.

The Station Agent 

Other unique features of the Liège station are the old-fashioned agent kiosks on both the northbound and southbound platforms. 

The agent station on the southbound platform tells the story of the agent who made a study of how many different ways the word Liège could be pronounced. As his project became urban legend, frequent travelers would intentionally ask him what station they were in to hear the “pronunciation of the day.” 

As a tribute to this quirky agent, his hidden doodles and pronunciations were collected and entered into the repertoire of the l’Ensemble de musique Vocale Contemporaine de la RATP.

Are You Coming or Going? 

Since the southbound and northbound metro platforms at Liège never meet, to see both of the Liège artists’ work, you must spend some time in the station wandering between the two “galleries.” And, interestingly, in this uniquely designed station, you can see the southbound train zoom by (without stopping) from the northbound platform and vice versa. There’s room for a track but not a platform.

Sadly, the modernization of the metro lines makes viewing these interesting tileworks difficult, especially with the automatic doors and high glass composite barriers. A shame … because the frescos transport you, for a moment, to Belgium … and are worth the journey.