Montmartre

Montmartre (UK: /mɒnˈmɑːrtrə/ mon-MAR-trə, US: /moʊnˈ-/ mohn-, French: [mɔ̃martr] ^ⓘ) 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, Saint Pierre de Montmartre, built in 1147, was the church of the prestigious Montmartre Abbey. On 15 August 1534, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier and five other companions bound themselves by vows in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, 11 Rue Yvonne Le Tac, the first step in the creation of the Jesuits.

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, Maurice Utrillo, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh. Montmartre is also the setting for several hit films.

The Montmartre Funicular provides access to Sacré-Cœur from the place Saint-Pierre, allowing people to avoid climbing the stairs on Rue Foyatier, which runs alongside it and has a total of 222 stairs.

Four Paris metro lines serve the neighborhood:

The RATP bus lines 30, 31, 54, 67, 74, 80, 85 and 95 also cross the neighborhood, as does line 40 (formerly Montmartrobus), the only one to run on the Montmartre hilltop.

Finally, the Montmartre tram also offers a guided tour of the area in 14 stages.

The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 contains 60 ha (150 acres) and is bordered by Rue Caulaincourt and Rue Custine on the north, by Rue de Clignancourt on the east, and by the Boulevard de Clichy and Boulevard de Rochechouart to the south.