PARIS'S Metro system, that baby of the belle epoque, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. With its 50 miles of corridors, its 131 miles of tracks and its 297 stations -- including the cavernous Chatelet-les-Halles, considered the world's largest public transit station -- the Metro is a parallel, underground city, one that is as deeply embedded in the French psyche as it is in the limestone and gypsum of Paris itself.
The R.A.T.P., the local transit authority, is marking the centenary in style: eight stations have been thematically decorated -- the platforms of St.-Germain-des-Pres, for example, below the heart of the French publishing district, have featured display cases filled with the works of Marcel Proust and Oscar Wilde. Until the end of the year, the Maison de la R.A.T.P., the transit authority's headquarters, is playing host to ''Le Siecle Metro'' (''The Metro Century''), a free multimedia exhibition that takes visitors snaking through a timeline made up of video screens, mechanical ticketing machines and vintage Metro cars.
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