Gare d'Austerlitz, Railway terminal in 13th arrondissement, France
Gare d'Austerlitz is a terminal station in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, serving southern and southwestern destinations with 21 numbered platforms under a large roof structure. The entrance hall opens toward the Seine riverbank and displays iron framework from the 19th century, while service counters are distributed throughout the building for passenger assistance.
The terminal opened in 1840 under the name Gare d'Orleans and took its current name from Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. Between 1862 and 1869, architect Pierre-Louis Renaud led a major reconstruction that shaped the hall's present appearance.
The station's name recalls Napoleon's victory over the Third Coalition at Austerlitz, today Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, on 2 December 1805; the nearby quai and pont d'Austerlitz carry the same name. The building was long called gare d'Orléans, after the Paris-Orléans company whose trains left from here. Since 1906 the elevated station of Métro line 5 has sat inside the great iron shed, crossing it above the tracks.
Metro lines 5 and 10 connect the station to central Paris and make access to different neighborhoods easier. Travelers find orientation signs in the main hall, while most platforms are accessible at ground level.
During the Siege of Paris in 1870, the iron train shed, 51.25 metres wide and 280 metres long, was used as a workshop for making gas balloons. The balloons carried mail and passengers out of the encircled capital to the unoccupied part of France.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,328 contributors worldwide.
