Beneath this lies the underground station Chatelet-Les-Halles, central hub of Paris's express underground system, the RER.
Unable to compete in the new market economy and in need of massive repairs, the colorful ambience once associated with the bustling area of merchant stalls disappeared in 1971, when Les Halles was dismantled.
The site was to become the point of convergence of the the RER, a network of new express underground lines which had been inaugurated in the 1960s. Three lines leading out of the city to the south, east and west were to be extended and connected in a new underground station. For several years, the site of the markets was an enormous open pit, nicknamed "le trou des Halles" (trou = hole), and a considerable eyesore at the foot of the historic church of St Eustache.
Construction was completed in 1977 on Chatelet-Les-Halles, Paris's new subway hub. The Forum des Halles, a partially underground multiple story commercial and shopping center, opened in 1979.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump