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Published: January 30th 2021
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http://www.heygo.com 30th January
Montemarte - Paris
The city of Paris is a mosaic of densely populated neighbourhoods, known as arrondissements, which spiral clockwise like a snail shell from the Left Bank and Right Bank of the River Seine right up to the périphérique that encircles the city.
Each arrondissement has its own distinctive personality & today with its cobbled streets full of charm & perched on the top of a hill we are in the 18th arrondissement Montemarte! With Florent.
Picasso arrived in Montmartre in 1900 & rented a studio but in 1904 (aged 23), he moved into the Bateau Lavoir. Pablo Picasso was soon joined there by the artist’s model Fernande Olivier. She became his muse and subject of many paintings of this period.
The original Bateau Lavoir, nicknamed 'boat washhouse' after the building's boat-like appearance burnt down in 1970 and was rebuilt one door down in 1978.
Our guide was full of interesting stories.
We heard about the headless statue of Montemarte.
Montmartre directly translated means “hill of martyrs” and is named after the first archbishop of France. His name was Saint Denis and was
sent by Pope to convert the Gauls, during this time in the third century the Romans still occupied Paris.
The Missionaries were good at converting the population over to Christianity and this lead to much unrest in the roman religious community.
Saint Denis would not back down and renounce his religion, which led to the Romans condemning him to be decapitated on the south facing side of the hill.
It is said that after his head was cut by sword he stood, picked up his head and proceeded to walk up and over Montmartre to a village north of Paris, where he finally collapsed.
A chapel was raised at the site of his burial by a local Christian woman; it was later expanded into an abbey and basilica, around which grew up the French city of Saint-Denis, now a suburb of Paris. The basilica also became the official burial place for french kings.
We passed a statue dedicated to the french music icon. Many fans and tourists visit to pay tribute to the French icon which was quite obvious when we saw the rubbed smooth areas of the statue !
A little vineyard appeared as we walked the cobbled streets.
Vineyards have flourished on Montmartre since the Romans built a temple there dedicated to Bacchus, god of wine. A Benedictine abbey was created on the hill in the 12th century but destroyed during the French Revolution. It fell into disrepair but in the early 30s a group of local artists led by Francis Poulbot, a famous illustrator petitioned the government to grant them the land so they could replant the vines.
So many interesting buildings we heard about from our guide Florent.
The Lapin Agile cabaret, a small pretty looking residence has been in existence for many years. In 1875 a painter called Andre Gill painted a sign that had a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan. In French this painting was called Le Lapin a Gill and so the name soon became changed slightly to Latin Agile, then the full name of Cabaret Au Lapin Agile, which is still the same name this it has today.
Pablo Picasso was a regular visitor to the casino.
Place du Tertre is the throbbing heart of the "artists' village" of Montmartre.
Lined
with restaurants and cafés, most of the square occupied by artists.The atmosphere here usually is very lively and busy but not today on a wet cold Saturday afternoon in a Covid pandemic.
Close to the Place du Tertre, the Dali Museum celebrates the life and work of the surrealist painter Salvador Dali. With 300 original works, mostly sculptures and engravings, this is the largest collection of Dali's works in Paris.
We soon came to the site overlooking the city, a glimpse through the railings meant we were able to see the iconic Eiffel Tower.
Finally we arrived at the steps below the Sacre Coeur Basilica - Built between 1875 and 1914 - one of a number of white stone basilicas put up in France at the end of the nineteenth century.
Designed by the architect Paul Abadie in the neo-romano-byzantine style popular at the time, the basilica was for some a monument to the victims of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, for others a monument to the martyrs of the revolutionary Paris "Commune".
Entrance to the basilica is free; there is however a charge for those who want to
climb the 330 steps to the viewing gallery around the dome but that wasn’t on the cards today.
We did have a good view of the city from the steps despite the grey skies.
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