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Follow my sister-in-law
and I on a surprise visit. Our French guide was injured, told us his route;
so we “discovered” Montmartre for ourselves.
Start with a nice hot lunch
or salad at a salon de thé and later take a beer at a bar with two
views, one of Invalides and the other of one of the remaining moulins (mill)
that became a dancehall.
Even if you have walked
this walk before, it becomes more exciting when you realize the history
behind this mound of earth high above Paris.
The history spans the Roman
times with its temples honoring Mars and Mercury to the entry of Christianity
and its first martyrs such as St. Denis (who is still walking around holding
his head in a local park).It continues to the more modern times of the
guilliotining of the abbesse in 1794 during the Terror, and the 1870
civil war and the beginnings of the Paris commune (free town).
Cabaret
owners defied the Parisian law designating that no music was allowed in
bars. The owners brought in pianos. The butte became an artist colony.
Goudeau’s group of artists known as the Hydropathes moved from the Left
Bank to Montmartre’s le Chat Noir. Picasso, at the age of 19, and other
artists and writers made their debut at Bateau-Lavoir.
The Montmartre museum is chock full of information (much of it in
English).
A walk of a couple of hours
could turn into a day in itself.
For a casual overview of the
Montmartre area (and since you have your weekly bus ticket so you can jump
on and off) take the Montmartre bus that runs between M° Place Pigalle
(restaurant Leon) and M° Jules Joffrin (across from the Mairie/city
hall).
A bus comes by about every 6 minutes and runs seven days a week.
Between June and September
on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. (1500) the City of Paris offers a guided
visit of Montmartre secluded, private and wild gardens. The visit is in
French, but the opportunity is spectacular!
Our first stop was a salon
du thé where the prices are reasonable. Once you ascend any stairs
toward Sacré-Coeur, prices ascend as well.
le Petite Charlotte Blondeau,
26 rue des Abbesses, (01.46.06.18.77).
Turning left from M°
Abbesses, walk through place des Abbesses, keeping the church on your left.
Look for the burgundy colored awnings of a Salon de Thé.
Rue Ravignan, head toward
the stairs and Place Emile Goudeau. You’ll recognize it by all the trees
and the Wallace fountain in the center.
Because of the quality
of its light and the rural atmosphere, this area attracted artists from
the beginning of the 19th century. No.13 has been replaced because of a
1970 fire, but this is the area (Bateau-Lavoire) became more well
known in the 1900s.
It housed the studios of Picasso and Braque, who invented
cubism, and many other painters and writers.
More history with photos
is in the storefront window at 11bis:
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In 1889 Maillard François
constructed on the hillside a strange building designed by the architect
Paul Vasseur. At that time the building was called “The Trapper House”
because of its strange appearance.
The main floor was on
rue Ravignan, today called Place Emile Goudeau, with the other three floors
facing rue Garreau.
Destined to house artists,
it was composed of several studios for painters and sculptors. The writers,
Max Jacob and André Salmon gave this curious building the name “Bateau-Lavoir”.
Placed into the supplemental inventory of historic monuments on May 31,
1965, and purchased jointly by the city of Paris and the French governments
in order to be restored, a fire destroyed the Bateau-Lavoir on May 12,
1970.
Rebuilt in 1978 according
to the plans of the architect, Claude Charpentier, it now houses 25 artists,
painters and sculptors. |
We continued along rue Ravignan
and turned left at the brick house onto Place Jean-Baptiste Clement, walking
uphill past the old water tower, which is now yearly meeting place for
CCM (a preservationist group of Montmartrois).
On this corner is also
a house behind a gate. The house has been transformed from country home
to a mental clinic and is now apartments.
That’s slang for the 4 p.m.
(1600) snack. The boulangerie, L. Chevalier at Place Jean-Baptiste Clement
and rue Norvins will come in handy later as a good place for a reasonably
priced sweet.
Once you turn right on
rue Norvins, look up into the buildings and you will see a curious white
and blue sign placed by Automobile Club of l’Isle de France on Impasse
du Tertre:
“Automobilists ralentissez.
Attention aux petit Poulbots.”
The small Poulbots were
the young boys who hung out on the streets of Montmartre and lived in vacant
lots. On the impasse you will see a restaurant with flowers and examples
of paintings by the artist Francisque Poulbot. Poulbot’s apartment is located
at 13 ave Junot.
Beurre et sucre crêpes
on rue Norvins. Music is provided
Montmartre’s tourist office
is located on the corner of rue Norvins and Place de Tertre. Buy the multilingual
map of Montmartre. If your French is good and your interest is high, buy
also “Bienvenue à Montmartre”. These items cost about $1 each.
We are now going to travel
around the block.
Turning the corner and
walking along Place de Tertre to another view over Paris,
you will notice
the Montmartre tourist office. Stop in and buy the Montmartre map.
The explanations of sites along the way are in various languages.
At the end of the street
is 1, Place de Calvaire. The house has green doors in the Art Nouveau style
and two signs, both listing the name of a different painter who lived and
died in the house.
Passing the house you will
enter rue Poulbot that takes us back to rue Norvins. Turn left and
right on to rue des Saules.
Now we are going to head
for the vineyard on rue des Saules.
For orientation at the
intersection of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Vincent, you have something
on four corners: au Lapin Agile, St. Vincent’s cemtery, a shaded,
corner plaza and the vineyard.
The vineyard dates from
about 1931. Before that it was a vacant lot where “the Poulbots” lived
and played.
This cabaret is open from
9p.m. until 2 a.m. every night except Monday.
Cimetière Saint-Vincent.
Entry on 6, rue Lucien Gaulard.
If you have diverted, return
to rue des Saules.
Heading back uphill between
the plaza and vineyard, rue des Saules has two cross streets: Abreuvoir
and Cortot. The tour continues to the right on rue de l’Abreuvoir”.
Musée de Montmartre,
rue Cortot, (most explanations in English, worth the visit).
Turning right as you leave
the museum, cross rue des Saules on to rue de l’Abreuvoir.
At no. 4 rue de l’Abreuvoir
look up at the sundial, one of Paris’ 109 sundials.
Continue toward the end
of the street and Place Dalida. Dalida was a singer and actress who died
by her own hand. Behind the fence is a chateau/mansion, now apartments.
Walk around the mansion
(Allée des Brouillards) and up the stairs to Square Suzanne Buisson,
who was a deported leader in the Socialist movement during WWII.
The headless
statue of Saint-Denis watches over the boule court here (game played with
two silver metal balls).
Leaving the park turn right
onto ave. Junot. Stop at the gate by the theatre, Ciné 13,
and see if you recognize any of the residents listed there. French director,
Claude Lelouch runs Ciné 13 on the corner.
Ave. Junot was originally
scheduled to extend all of the way to Sacré-Cœur. The Montmartre
preservationists vigorously fought this extension; thus ave. Junot
ends at Rue Norvins.
A good way to reach rue
Lepic and the bar with a view is to walk ave. Junot avenue and pass No.13,
(look up to see mosaics of Poulbots children) turn left at the lamppost
and walk through a narrow passage with no name.
Just a few feet more on the
left is Villa Léandre. Sneak a peak and return to the passage with
no name.
On the left is the “boulodrome”.
Tucked behind the stone wall, the only remnant of the Maquis, are boule
players. Walking down the passage past the rock in the middle “rock of
the witch – roche de la socière” and you reach the stairs to rue
Lepic, turn left outside the gate.
| bar/restaurant with a view |
Coin de Rue, rue Lepic
My sister-in-law and I
knew we were close to the famous Moulin de la Galette, but couldn’t find
it. We sat down outside the bar for a beer across the street from a historical
marker, looked up and spotted the windmill.
In the spring and summer,
the windmill is behind the trees. The second windmill, whose motor is original
and works, is located further down rue Lepic at the former “Moulin de la
Galette” now a restaurant under another name.
For orientation, the street
parallel to Lepic is Junot where you saw the theatre, Cine 13, and the
residence with the familiar names.
After your beer continue
rue Lepic and return to Place Jean-Baptiste Clément and the boulangerie/bakery
for your “heure du gouter”.
You are now on your own
for the diversions and Montmartre bus rides….
Montmartre is the area for
fabrics, tapestries and curtain tiebacks. At the foot of Sacrè Cœure,
turn left on either Place St. Pierre or rue Ronsgard to find three well-known,
multi-story fabric stores: Dreyfus, le marché St. Pierre; Moline
and Reine.
For a gem of a shop with
well-priced tapestries and fringed curtain tie backs, go to the shop at
the corner of rue d’Orsel and rue de Steinkerque: “Au Bouton St. Pierre”.
The block of rue d’Orsel,
des Trois Frères and rue Yvonne le Tac is a good estimate
as to where the lower abbey of Montmartre, demolished in 1794 during “the
Terror”, was located.
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Historical markers around Montmartre
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Bateau-Lavoir“We will all return to
Bateau-Lavoir, we were all really happiest there….” Until his died, Picasso
looked back nostalgically to the rural Montmartre of his youth, with its
farms, vineyards and picturesque cabarets. He came to the Montmartre when
he was 19 and in 1904 where he lived in an artist’s studio and painted
one of his last works of the blue and the rose periods that were inspired
his lover, Fernande Olivier as well as “Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907),
the prelude to cubism.
Best known as the Trapper
House, this residence was a piano factory, and around 1889 was divided
into artists’ studios and renamed Bateau-Lavoir by Max Jacob. The piano
factory with its vast wooden barracks, its maze of ship-like corridors,
and its small stairways was reduced to ashes on May 12, 1970. |
| La mire du Nord As early as 1670, the
Academy of Science has undertaken to measure the length of the meridan
of Paris expressed in old French linear measures and degrees from Dunkerque
to Barcelona.
On the 14th of August 1675,
the priest Jean Picard, director of this project between Paris and Amiens,
buried a wooden pillar and named it “the meridian post”. Taken up once
again by the Cassini’s, this activity established the basis for a map of
France. The post was eventually replaced by the construction of a stone
pyramid, three metres high, mounted by a fleur de lys (flower of the lily).
The exact inscription read:
“The year 1736, this obelisk was raised by order of the king to serve as
an alignment of the meridan of Paris from its north side. Its axis is at
measurement 2,931 and 2 feet from the southern face of the Observatory.” |
| La Folie Sandrin, rue Norvins In 1774 Mr. Sandrin acquired
a terrain of between 200 and 500 square metres (arpent is an old measurement)
in the heart of Montmartre. He constructed a luxurious country house full
of charm. A wine merchant who bought the house in 1795, and in 1806 Doctor
Prost transformed it into a clinique for the mentally ill following the
teachings of Pinel (recognized as the founder of modern psychiatric medicine).
These teachings broke with
the tradition chaining the mentally ill in asylums. The followers of Pinel
experimented with innovative treatments: “The human approach is sometimes
more effective than drastic methods. One has to be nice and vigilante and
not alienate the patient, who needs to achieve confidence and function
at his/her state of being.”
This method was successful
in no time including among its clientele writers and artists suffering
from fatigue and depression. In 1820, Doctor Esprit Blanch took over this
celebrated establishment. Along with his wife, the couple was animated
with the same philanthropic sentiments and tried to make their clinic as
homey as possible for their residents.
The clinic’s most famous
resident after 1841, Gérard de Nerval, wrote, “Here began for me
what I would call the expansion of my feelings from the deceptions of real
life.”
(The term “folie” can mean
crazy or describe the façade of a home.) |
| Au Lapin Agile Around 1860, the “Cabaret
of the Assassins” offered Parisians lots to see from its welcoming terrace
as well as shade from the acacia tree and its clairet wine. In 1886 a former
dancer turned it into a small hotel/restaurant. Among those who frequented
the establishment was Alphonse Allais, Caran D’Ache our André Gill.
Gill decorated the front with a comical rabbit, bouncing on two hind legs
holding a saucepan. Soon everyone took to calling the establishment “Lapin
à Gill” (Rabbit by Gill) and soon was shortened to “Lapin Agille”
and even went further with “au Lapin Agile”. Purchased in 1902 by Aristotle
Bruant, he left it to his managers Berthe and Frédé, celebrated
for their generosity and hospitality to those low on funds, Picasso, Modigliani,
Utrillo…
Even the donkey, Lolo,
had its hour of glory at the 1910 Indpendent Salon under the pseudonyme
of Boronali; a transparent anagram of Aliboron (the author of “Sunset on
the Adriatic” thanks to his tail being dipped into different pots of paint
colors.
Inspired by this myth/hoax,
Dorgelès, edited a declaration to progressive thinkers: To go to
extremes as an artist is a strength as opposed to being blinded by genius.
(This might relate to a political/French moment.) |
| La maison de Rose de Rosimond Claude de la Rose (Rosimond),
born in 1645 was a writer who chose to follow in the footsteps of Molière
performing for the king; like Molière, he died on the stage during
a performance of the “Malade imaginaire” (The Imaginary Illness). Since
1680 this house had been a country house surrounded by five parcels of
prime farmland. In the 19th century, the house was developed into
artists quarters. August Renoir rented two rooms and the barn here. Léon
Bloy, Raoul Dufy, Suzanne Valadon, André Utter and Maurice Utrillo,
among other, took up residence here in ensuing years.
The house was so dilapidated
in 1952 that it was threatened with demolition. The Historical and Archeological
Society of Old Montmartre saved the oldest house on Butte Montmartre
and transformed it into a museum in 1961. |
| Le Château des Brouillards In spite of its legend,
this large home built in 1772 was not destined to be lived in by the writer,
Lefranc de Pompignan, but a lawyer in the Parliament of Paris. The origin
of the mansion’s poetic name no doubt comes from the mist created by the
water running into the livestock’s drinking trough on rue de l’Abreuvoir
and coming into contact with the cool air. In 1854, Gérard de Nerval
imagined it as a peacful oasis: “What impresses me the most in this shaded
oasis is that it is what is left of the vineyard in memory of Saint-Denis….”
“The drinking at the trough
became animated in the evenings when the horses and dogs bathed and drank
…an admirable place of quiet retreat on their own time …” wrote L’Illustration.
Treeless and threatened with demolition, this “mansion in the mist” was
restored between 1922 and 1926. |
| La Légende de Saint-Denis During the the Merovingian
period, an oral tradition began in the Paris region about the first bishop
and missionary sent here by Pope Clement. Martyred for his faith, Saint
Dennis was decapitated in 273 (in at least four different places in Paris)
along with the priest, Father Rustique, and the archdeacon Eleuthère.
In 475, his memory was
still being honored so Saint Geneviève thought it easier for the
people if she built a basilica over his tomb. All of the many miracles
could be performed at one spot: The blind would see, the paralyzed would
walk, and the demons would be drived from the possessed.
In 840, the abbey Hildruin
told a story that became a legend about the decapitation that promised
to be a great success and did not cease to be expanded upon: The saint
picked up his head and carried it to the fountain (in the park). |
| Le Moulin de la Galette The old wind mill “Blute-fin”
is a monument with a heroic legend. In 1814 during the siege of Paris by
the Cosacks, the last of the four Debray brothers in a long line of millers
since 1621, broke up and nailed down the “wings” of his mill. Under the
restoration, his son transformed the building into a dancehall, decorated
principally green garden trellises.
The atmosphere here was
relaxed and the clientele became more popular than at other establishments
as evidenced by Renoir’s 1876 painting “Le bal du Moulin de la Galette”.
After various near misses, the old “Blute-fin” was saved in 1979. |
| Mairie de XVIIIe arrondissement Already in 1882 the city
of Paris was preoccupied with thoughts of replacing the old city of hall
of Montmartre located Place of the Abbesses since 1836. The préfet
of the Seine, Eugène Poubelle, bought the property called Sainte-Euphrasie,
in 1885. It was renamed Jules Joffrin in 1895. Time moved on and Marcelin-emmanuel
Varcollier (1829-1895) took office.
The former student and
collaborator of Baltard had been the official architect of the city since
1883. In 1888 he seduced the jury by his original design. Around the grand
hall, the center is covered in glass; the municipal offices projecting
away from the center are in the form of a trapezoid; the library, a ballroom
and two marriage chambers are located on the first floor. The eclectic
façade joins the support columns in the Renaissance style with the
Louis XV pediments. The porch consists of five arches decorated by the
statues of Liberty and Brotherhood by Gustave Crauk. The interior of the
ballroom is decorated in sculpted wood, highlighted in gold and the ceiling
is full of stars, the work of the architect, Claës. The inauguration
of the new city hall of the 18th district took place on July 17, 1892. |
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November 2008