Line 2 is one of the sixteen lines of the Paris Métro rapid transit system in Paris, France. Situated almost entirely above the former city walls (boulevards extérieurs), it runs in a semi-circle in the north of Paris.
As its name suggests, Line 2 was the second line of the Métro to open, with the first section put into service in December 1900; it adopted its current configuration in April 1903, running between Porte Dauphine and Nation (Paris Métro). There have been no changes in its service pattern since.
At 12.4 km (7.7 mi) in length, it is the seventh-busiest line of the system, with 92.1 million passengers in 2004. Slightly over 2 km (1.2 mi) of the line is built on an elevated viaduct with four aerial stations. In 1903, it was the location of the worst incident in the history of the Paris Métro, the fire at Couronnes.
Porte Dauphine (Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny) is a station of the Paris Métro. It is the western terminus of Line 2. Nearby, one can transfer to the RER C at Avenue Foch station (with no direct transfer). Paris Dauphine University is nearby.
The station contains one of the only two remaining aedicules originally designed by Hector Guimard (1867–1942), the Art Nouveau architect who was originally commissioned by the Compagnie du Métropolitain de Paris (CMP) in 1899 to design the entrances for the Métropolitain stations. (The other is at Abbesses.)
The Porte Dauphine station was inaugurated on 13 December 1900. At the time, Line 2 had only been completed as far as Charles de Gaulle—Étoile. It now runs from Porte Dauphine around the northern part of Paris, through Montmartre, around to its eastern terminus at the Place de la Nation. It is named after Porte Dauphine, a gate in the nineteenth century Thiers wall of Paris. Its subtititle honours Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny.