Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur

Montmartre remained outside the city limits until 1860, when it was annexed to Paris and became part of the 18th arrondissement. In 1871 the Paris Commune began here, when National Guardsmen prevented the army from removing cannons from the hilltop. The Sacré-Cœur was begun in 1875 to designs by Paul Abadie, completed in 1914 and consecrated in 1919, and in 2022 it was listed as a historic monument.

From the late 19th century cheap rents and a lively nightlife drew artists and writers. Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh lived and worked here, the Moulin Rouge opened in 1889, and Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in the Bateau-Lavoir studios. Cabarets such as the Lapin Agile and the Chat Noir became famous, and the windmill of the Moulin de la Galette appears in some of the best-known paintings of the period.

Away from the summit, Montmartre is a lived-in neighbourhood with bakeries, wine bars and food shops, especially around rue des Abbesses and rue Lepic. The hill holds on to its village identity, with its own vineyard, the Clos Montmartre, whose new vintages are celebrated at the Fête des Vendanges, a festival with a parade and fireworks held on the second weekend of October since 1934, and the streets below, around Pigalle and Barbès, are some of the most diverse and lively in Paris.