The Paris Métro or Métropolitain (French: Métro de Paris) is the rapid transit system in Paris.

Entrances to stations were designed in Art Nouveau style by Hector Guimard. Eighty-six of his entrances are still in existence. 

The system is 133 miles in length. There are 301 stations , of which 62 facilitate transfer to another line.

IN 2009, Paris was the second busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow. It carried 4.5 million passengers a day, and an annual total of 1.479 billion.

The first line opened without ceremony on 19 July 1900, during the World Fair (Exposition Universelle). The system expanded quickly until the First World War and the core was complete by the 1920s. Extensions into suburbs  were built in the 1930s.

Art Nouveau Exterior Design

The most elaborate feature glass canopies. Three still exist, at Porte Dauphine, Abbesses, and at the intersection of Rue des Halles and Rue Sainte-Opportune.

The rest have a cast-iron balustrade decorated in plant-like motifs, accompanied by a "Métropolitain" sign supported by two orange globes atop ornate cast-iron supports in the form of plant stems.

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