Dragonfly" Art Nouveau Metropolitain Canopy at Abbesses Metro Station - Paris

The metro station at Abbesses in Montmartre, shown here, has one of the very few remaining Art Nouveau Métropolitain canopies. Of the 19 or 20 of this type originally installed, only 3 remain.

Paris’s most iconic Art Nouveau Métropolitain canopies, affectionately dubbed libellules (French for "dragonflies"), were designed by Hector Guimard around the turn of the 20th century. These delicate structures feature fan-shaped glass roofs supported by sinuous, cast-iron ribs—evoking the wings of a dragonfly. Beyond aesthetics, they cleverly channel rain into a central gutter that drains downward, keeping stairs dry.