Berri-UQAM (Montreal Metro)

Berri- UQAM is a metro station in Montreal. It is located in the Arrondissement Ville- Marie at the intersection of Rue Berri and Maisonneuve Boulevard De, adjacent to the campus of the Université du Québec à Montréal ( UQAM ). The station is the main hub of the Metro Montreal. Here, the green line 1 and line 2 the orange cross; Berri -UQAM is also the western terminus of the Yellow Line 4 In 2006, 12,053,754 passengers used the station (excluding connecting passengers ). , making it the busiest of the entire network.

Building

Designed by the architectural firm Longpré & Marchand station complex consists of a cross-shaped cavity, which was built in an open design at the intersection of Boulevard De Maisonneuve and Rue Berri and includes three levels. The cavity is so extensive that mighty pillars are necessary to support the overlying roads. The four cross ends contain escalators linking the different levels together; added several flights of stairs. Since 2009, however, the station is partially wheelchair accessible by elevators, so far only to the orange line.

At the top level is the distribution with the turnstiles and various shops on all four sides, including the information center of the Société de transport de Montréal ( STM). Below it are the second level with the platforms of the orange line at a depth of 10.7 meters and the third level with the 16.8 -meter low-lying platforms of the green line. Of the latter of escalators and corridors leading to the 27.4 -meter low-lying platforms of the yellow line. These are not the actual station complex, but are located in a separate tunnel beneath the Rue Saint- Denis.

All three lines have side platforms. The distances to the neighboring stations (both measured from the end station to station beginning) are as follows:

• Green line: 336.80 meters to 378.76 meters and Saint -Laurent Beaudry to
• Orange line: 720.50 meters to Champ -de- Mars and 579.10 meters to Sherbrooke
• Yellow line: 2362.10 meters to Jean- Drapeau (longest distance between stations throughout the metro)

There are five inputs and outputs. In other existing buildings are those built on the Rue Saint -Denis, on the rue Berri (two different sites) and on the Boulevard De Maisonneuve. The only free-standing station entrance, designed by architect Gaétan Pelletier and 1999 eröffneter glass and steel pavilion, located on the Rue Sainte -Catherine. Berri- UQAM is the center of a slice of Montreal underground city. Pedestrian tunnels provide weather-protected access to various buildings, including the university, the Grande Bibliothèque and become a hotel. Connections consist of five bus routes and two night buses the STM, also is on a pedestrian tunnel to the Gare d' autocars de Montréal accessible ( terminal for intercity buses ).

Art

In the station several works of art are exhibited. The largest is a wall painting of glass and acrylic paint by Pierre Gaboriau and Pierre Osterrath called Hommage aux fondateurs de la ville de Montréal ( homage to the founder of the city of Montreal ). It is located on the east portal of the tunnel, the green line and in 1969 mounted as a gift of Caisses Desjardins Credit Union. In abstract form, she represents the city's founder Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversiere, Jeanne Mance and Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve dar.

Three large-format murals by Robert Lapalme, the only oil painting on canvas in the metro, adorn the main entrance to the platforms of the yellow line. They were originally at the entrance to Expo 67 and were later transferred at the personal request of Mayor Jean Drapeau in the metro station. The paintings represent the three themes of the World's Fair: Science ( Science ), Divertissement (entertainment) and Culture (Culture). Along with Georges Lauda Lapalme also created a bronze plaque in the middle of the distribution level, which refers to the continuity of public transport in Montreal, from the first horse-drawn tram in 1861 until the opening of Metro 1966.

In the entrance pavilion in the Rue Sainte -Catherine since 2000, is a bronze statue Mère Emilie Gamelin of the sculptor Raoul Hunter. Reminds you of the 200th anniversary of the beatified foundress Émilie Gamelin and displays them in distributing food to the needy of the city. In the corridor to the platforms on the yellow line in 2007 created " peace wall" ( Mur de la paix ) by Cécile Dion is found, consisting of inscriptions of the word "peace" ( paix ) in 34 languages.

History

The opening of the station took place on 14 October 1966, as the green and the orange line resumed their operation. The station of the yellow line was inaugurated on 31 March 1967.

The namesake of the station are on the one hand the existing least since 1663 Rue Berri, which is possibly named after the landowner Simon Després dit Berry, on the other hand, the Université du Québec à Montréal ( UQAM ), founded in 1969. Initially, the station was known as Berri -de Montigny (then existed the UQAM campus not yet ), the second part of the name refers to the landowning family Testard de Montigny. It was originally planned to call the station Berri -de Maisonneuve, as the Rue de Montigny had already disappeared in the construction of the Boulevard De Maisonneuve. Nine years after the completion of the UQAM campus station on 1 January 1988 was given its present name.