Monument aux Agents du Réseau de l'Est morts pour la Patrie

This monument is located deep underground in the Richelieu-Drouot metro station. It was installed in the station's vast central corridor in nineteen thirty-one to honor the employees of the Paris Metro who died during the First World War. At the outbreak of the war in nineteen fourteen, the two companies operating the metro system employed over six thousand men. Five thousand four hundred of those workers were mobilized for the conflict, and eight hundred and forty-nine never returned. The monument lists all of their names in alphabetical order, regardless of which of the two original rail companies they worked for. The memorial was carved from black Belgian granite to contrast with the bright white ceramic tiles that line the station walls. Its central feature is a colossal female figure in classical attire, sculpted by Carlo Sarrabezolles. She stands with her arms raised, supporting a heavy garland of laurel that hangs down to frame the entire structure. The architect, Germain Olivier, designed this massive installation to stretch over eight meters long, creating a stark, silent space for commemoration in the middle of a busy transit hub.