Description of the attraction
Montmartre is a former suburb of Paris, about 4.5 kilometers north of the Cité. The former village entered the city limits only in 1859. Today it is one of the most attractive places for tourists - there is a magnificent Sacre Coeur Basilica, from here an incredible view of Paris opens up.
On a hill 130 meters high, people settled in the Neolithic era. During the time of the Gauls and Romans, there were pagan temples in honor of Mars and Mercury. Gypsum was mined on the hill, and the local quarries became refuge for the early Christians. For preaching Christianity, the first bishop of Paris, St. Dionysius (272). Legend has it that the executed man took his own head in his hands, washed it and walked about 6 kilometers before falling - the place of his death was named Saint-Denis (present-day suburb of Paris).
Montmartre has a rich spiritual history. In the 12th century, the order of St. Benedict built a monastery here, now the church of the Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre monastery is one of the oldest in Paris. It was in Montmartre that Ignatius de Loyola founded the Jesuit order in 1535.
At the same time, the hill has a solid business history. Gypsum, an irreplaceable building material, has ensured the well-being of local residents for centuries. They ground it with windmills. Alphonse Daudet wrote: "There is a particle of Montmartre anywhere in Paris."
But the culture brought true glory to Montmartre. Since the end of the 19th century, it has attracted poor artists with low housing prices. Renoir, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Utrillo, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani lived and worked here. Poor craftsmen rented rooms in a barrack, without electricity and gas, with one water tap for five floors. And although the role of the main bohemian quarter has now passed to Montparnasse, in Montmartre, Parisian artists still exhibit their work on Place des Tertre.
Montmartre has many faces. There is a vineyard on the rue Saint-Vincennes, each year producing about a thousand bottles of rare Montmartre wine. Nearby is the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. And between the Places of Belaya and Pigalle is the equally famous red-light district of Paris.
On a note
- Location: Montmartre, Paris
- Nearest metro station: "Abbesses" line M12
- Official website:
