Montmartre
Montmartre (UK: /mɒnˈmɑːrtrə/ mon-MAR-trə,[1][2][3] French: [mɔ̃maʁtʁ] ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is 130 m (430 ft) high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its artistic history, for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit, and as a nightclub district.
The other church on the hill,
Near the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th, during the Belle Époque, many artists lived, worked, or had studios in or around Montmartre, including Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh. Montmartre is also the setting for several hit films.
The area is served by the underground
Etymology
The
History
Antiquity to 18th century
Archaeological excavations show that the heights of Montmartre were occupied from at least Gallo-Roman times. Texts from the 8th century cite the name of mons Mercori (Mount Mercury); a 9th-century text speaks of Mount Mars. Excavations in 1975 north of the Church of Saint-Pierre found coins from the 3rd century and the remains of a major wall. Earlier excavations in the 17th century at the Fontaine-du-But (2 rue Pierre-Dac) found vestiges of Roman baths from the 2nd century.[6]
The butte owes its particular religious importance to the text entitled Miracles of Saint-Denis, written before 885 by
In 1134, King
By the 15th century, the north and northeast slopes of the hill were the site of a village surrounded by vineyards, gardens and orchards of
During the 1590 Siege of Paris, in the last decade of the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV placed his artillery on top of the butte of Montmartre to fire down into the city. The siege eventually failed when a large relief force approached and forced Henry to withdraw.
The abbey was destroyed in 1790 during the French Revolution, and the convent demolished to make place for gypsum mines. The last abbess, Marie-Louise de Laval-Montmorency, was guillotined in 1794.[8] The church of Saint-Pierre was saved. At the place where the chapel of the Martyrs was located (now 11 rue Yvonne-Le Tac), an oratory was built in 1855. It was renovated in 1994.[6]
In 1790, Montmartre was located just outside the limits of Paris. That year, under the revolutionary government of the National Constituent Assembly, it became the commune of Montmartre, with its town hall located on place du Tertre, site of the former abbey. The main businesses of the commune were wine making, stone quarries and gypsum mines.
Mining and archaeology
The mining of gypsum had begun in the
19th century
Russian soldiers occupied Montmartre during the Battle of Paris in 1814. They used the altitude of the hill for artillery bombardment of the city.
Montmartre remained outside of the city limits of Paris until January 1, 1860, when it was annexed to the city along with other communities (faubourgs) surrounding Paris, and became part of the 18th arrondissement of Paris.
In 1871, Montmartre was the site of the beginning of the revolutionary uprising of the
In 1870, the future French prime minister during World War I, Georges Clemenceau, was appointed mayor of the 18th arrondissement, including Montmartre, by the new government of the Third Republic, and was also elected to the National Assembly. A member of the radical republican party, Clemenceau tried unsuccessfully to find a peaceful compromise between the even more radical Paris Commune and the more conservative French government. The Commune refused to recognize him as mayor, and seized the town hall. He ran for a seat in the council of the Paris Commune, but received less than eight hundred votes. He did not participate in the Commune, and was out of the city when the Commune was suppressed by the French army. In 1876, he again was elected as deputy for Montmartre and the 18th arrondissement.[12]
The Basilica of the
By the 19th century, the butte was famous for its cafés,
Artists gather (late 19th–early 20th century)
During the
Artists' associations such as
The last of the bohemian Montmartre artists was Gen Paul (1895–1975), born in Montmartre and a friend of Utrillo. Paul's calligraphic expressionist lithographs, sometimes memorializing picturesque Montmartre itself, owe a lot to Raoul Dufy.
Among the last of the neighborhood's bohemian gathering places was R-26, an artistic salon frequented by Josephine Baker, Le Corbusier and Django Reinhardt. Its name was commemorated by Reinhardt in his 1947 tune "R. vingt-six".[17]
Modern day
There is a small
The Musée de Montmartre is in the house where the painters Maurice Utrillo and Suzanne Valadon lived and worked in second-floor studios. The house was Pierre-Auguste Renoir's first Montmartre address. Many other personalities moved through the premises. The mansion in the garden at the back is the oldest hotel on Montmartre, and one of its first owners was Claude de la Rose, a 17th-century actor known as Rosimond, who bought it in 1680. Claude de la Rose was the actor who replaced Molière, and who, like his predecessor, died on stage.
Nearby, day and night, tourists visit such sights as
An inclined railway, the
Downhill to the southwest is the
In popular culture
Literature
- The 1950 novel Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper is set in and around Montmartre.
- Roy Walton, the English card magician, named a card trick Montmartre published in The Complete Walton Volume 1. It features many climaxes throughout the trick including colour changes and card swaps.
Films
- The Heart of a Nation (released 1943) features a family resident in Montmartre from 1870 to 1939.
- An American in Paris (1951), with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, was the winner of the Oscar for the best film of 1951. Many important scenes, including the last scenes are set in Montmartre (most of the film was shot in Hollywood).
- Moulin Rouge (1952), tells the story of the life and lost loves of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
- French Cancan (1954), a French musical comedy with Jean Gabin and María Félix, takes place in Montmartre, and tells the story of the Moulin Rouge and the invention of the famous dance. The director, Jean Renoir, was the son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who lived for a time in Montmartre.
- The Great Race (1965), shows Professor Fate in the "Hannibal 8" driving down the basilica steps after a wrong turn while racing to the Eiffel tower.
- Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), opens with a foot chase through Montmartre.
- C'était un rendez-vous (1976), a nine-minute high-speed driving through Paris to the rendezvous point at Montmarte.
- Ronin (1998): Outside of the café at the beginning and end.
- Amélie (2001): the tale of a young Parisian woman determined to help the lives of others and find her true love, is set in Montmartre and includes a key scene in the gardens below the basilica.
- Moulin Rouge! (2001): a musical film set in Montmartre, is about the night club and a young writer (Ewan McGregor) who falls in love with a prominent courtesan (Nicole Kidman).
- Remake (2003): Bosnian war film tells the parallel coming-of-age stories of a father living in Sarajevo during World War II and his son living through the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. Part of the film was shot in Paris and important scene take place in Montmartre. The film stars François Berléand and Évelyne Bouix.
- Pigalle, bordering Montmartre.
- Bastille Day (2016) opens with a pickpocket (the main antagonist) pickpocketing on the stairs in front of the Sacré-Cœur with an accomplice.
- Beauty and the Beast (2017): live action version of a 1991 animated film. The film features a scene in which Belle (Emma Watson) and Beast (Dan Stevens) are magically transported to the abandoned attic of a windmill atop Montmartre.
- Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
Songs
- In "La Bohème", a 1965 song by singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour, a painter recalls his youthful years in a Montmartre that has, for him, ceased to exist: "I no longer recognize/Either the walls or the streets/That had seen my youth/At the top of a staircase/I look for my studio/Of which nothing survives/In its new décor/Montmartre seems sad/And the lilacs are dead'). The song is a farewell to what, according to Aznavour, were the last days of Montmartre as a site of bohemian activity.
- The Slade song "Far Far Away" mentions it in passing in the third verse: "I've seen the Paris lights from high upon Montmartre/And felt the silence hanging low in No Man's Land".
Video games
- In the 2019 mobile game Mario Kart Tour, the Montmartre is a notable landmark appearing in the background of the "Paris Promenade" course.
Main sights
- The touristsfor pleasure and money
- The Bateau-Lavoir site, the former home and studio of many well-known artists including Pablo Picasso
- The Dalida house in Rue d'Orchampt
- The Place Dalida
- The Place Pigalle and the Moulin Rouge in the south
- The marché Saint-Pierre, area of the cloth sellers, in the south-east
- The working class districts with immigrant communities: Barbès (Maghreb) in the southeast, Château Rouge in the east
- The Le Trianon, La Boule Noire) inspired by the 19th century cabarets
- The cimetière de Montmartre
- The Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
- Erik Satie's house
- The Place Marcel-Aymé, site of the R-26 artistic salon and the statue Le passe muraille
- cabaretswhose clientele at the beginning of the 20th century was mainly French artists
- The Moulin de la Galette
- The funiculaire de Montmartre, a funicular railway used instead of the well-known Rue Foyatier stepsto ascend the highest part of the hill
- The Place Émile-Goudeau, where the Bateau-Lavoir was the home and studio of many great painters
- Place Jean-Marais
- The Espace Dalí, a museum dedicated to several of the surrealist's masterpieces
- The Wall of Love in the Jehan Rictus garden square
- The Martyrium of Saint Denis
Notable people
See: Category:People of Montmartre
See also
References
- ^ "Montmartre". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-03-22.
- ^ "Montmartre". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Longman. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- ^ "Montmartre". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- ^ "Montmartre, Paris' last village. Facts". Paris Digest. 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
- ^ Dictionnaire historique de Paris, p. 476
- ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire historique de Paris, p. 477.
- ^ Young, Bailey K. (Autumn 1978). "Archaeology in an Urban Setting: Excavations at Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre, Paris, 1975–1977". Journal of Field Archaeology. 5 (3): 321.
- ^ Monnier, Mechtilde (1921). La dernière abbesse de Montmartre: Marie Louise de Montmorency-Laval, 1723-1794. Paris: Paris P. Lethielleux.
- ^ Dictionnaire historique de Paris, p. 476.
- ISBN 978-0-415-44467-5.
- ^ Sarmant, Thierry, Histoire de Paris, p. 196.
- ^ Milza, Pierre, L'année terrible – La Commune (mars-juin 1871)
- ^ Dictionnaire historique de Paris, p. 478
- ISBN 978-2-253-13140-3)
- ^ Dictionnaire historique de Paris, pp. 476–480
- ISBN 0520225376
- ^ Django Reinhardt – Swing De Paris. 6 Oct. 2012. Exhibit. La Cité de la musique, Paris.
- ^ Paris.fr, Jardin sauvage Saint-Vincent, accessed 12 May 2024
- ^ Paris Aéroport, Paris Vous Aime Magazine, No 13, avril-may-juin 2023, p. 95
- ^ "Montmartre". Discovering the Charm of Montmartre.
Bibliography
- Brigstocke, Julian. The Life of the City: Space, Humour, and the Experience of Truth in Fin-de-siècle Montmartre (Ashgate, 2014) xv + 230pp online review
- Cate, Phillip Dennis and Mary Shaw. The Spirit of Montmartre: Cabarets, Humor, and the Avant-Garde 1875–1905 (Rutgers University Press, 1996)
- Weisberg, Gabriel, ed. Montmartre and the Making of Mass Culture (Rutgers U. Press, 2001)
In French
- Sarmant, Thierry (2012). Histoire de Paris: Politique, urbanisme, civilisation. Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot. ISBN 978-2-755-803303.
- Dictionnaire Historique de Paris. Le Livre de Poche. 2013. ISBN 978-2-253-13140-3.
- Vie quotidienne a Montmartre au temps de Picasso, 1900–1910 (Daily Life on Montmartre in the Times of Picasso) was written by Jean-Paul Crespelle, an author-historian who specialized in the artistic life of Montmartre and Montparnasse.
External links
- Media related to Montmartre at Wikimedia Commons