Description
Montmartre is the hill of the 18th arrondissement in Paris, 130 meters high and about 60 hectares, famous for its artists, its cabarets and the white dome of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit. It is steep, bohemian and one of the most visited neighborhoods of the city.
Most visitors climb to the Sacré-Cœur, by 222 steps on Rue Foyatier or by the funicular, for the view. Nearby, Place du Tertre buzzes with painters sketching portraits, and the church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, from 1147, is far older than the basilica.
Lower on the slope, the Moulin Rouge, opened in 1889, gave birth to the French cancan. In the Musée de Montmartre lived the painters Maurice Utrillo and Suzanne Valadon. The Wall of Love, in a small garden, says "I love you" in 250 languages.
The hill also keeps a small vineyard on Rue Saint-Vincent, which still makes about 500 liters of wine a year, and the cemetery, where the filmmaker François Truffaut and the painter Edgar Degas lie.
Saint Denis, the story goes, was beheaded up on Montmartre around 250 AD, then picked up his head and walked down the north slope carrying it. Mount of Mars or Mount of the Martyrs? On the name of the hill, scholars still disagree.
For centuries it was a village outside Paris, among vineyards, orchards and windmills, while gypsum mines riddled the hill with tunnels. It joined the city only in 1860, and in 1871 the Paris Commune began here, over the army's cannons parked on the hilltop. Then the artists arrived.
Rents were low and the nights lively. Renoir painted the Bal du moulin de la Galette here, and at the Bateau-Lavoir Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Erik Satie played the piano at Le Chat Noir, and Lapin Agile was another favorite of the creative crowd.
With World War I most of the artists moved on to Montparnasse. The area is now a protected historic district, where development is limited to keep its character.
Most visitors climb to the Sacré-Cœur, by 222 steps on Rue Foyatier or by the funicular, for the view. Nearby, Place du Tertre buzzes with painters sketching portraits, and the church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, from 1147, is far older than the basilica.
Lower on the slope, the Moulin Rouge, opened in 1889, gave birth to the French cancan. In the Musée de Montmartre lived the painters Maurice Utrillo and Suzanne Valadon. The Wall of Love, in a small garden, says "I love you" in 250 languages.
The hill also keeps a small vineyard on Rue Saint-Vincent, which still makes about 500 liters of wine a year, and the cemetery, where the filmmaker François Truffaut and the painter Edgar Degas lie.
Saint Denis, the story goes, was beheaded up on Montmartre around 250 AD, then picked up his head and walked down the north slope carrying it. Mount of Mars or Mount of the Martyrs? On the name of the hill, scholars still disagree.
For centuries it was a village outside Paris, among vineyards, orchards and windmills, while gypsum mines riddled the hill with tunnels. It joined the city only in 1860, and in 1871 the Paris Commune began here, over the army's cannons parked on the hilltop. Then the artists arrived.
Rents were low and the nights lively. Renoir painted the Bal du moulin de la Galette here, and at the Bateau-Lavoir Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Erik Satie played the piano at Le Chat Noir, and Lapin Agile was another favorite of the creative crowd.
With World War I most of the artists moved on to Montparnasse. The area is now a protected historic district, where development is limited to keep its character.