Butte
From Paris Hotels Reviews
Butte
At 130m the” Mound”, Butte Montmartre, is the highest point in Paris. The various theories as to the origin of its name all have a Roman connection: it could be a corruption of Mons Martyrum – “the Martyrs hill”, the martyrs being St Denis and his companions; on the other hand, it might have been named Mons Mercurii, in honor of a Roman shrine to Mercury; or possibly Mons Martis, after a shrine Mars.
If you’re in any doubt about finding your way up the Butte, just keep heading uphill – the area is so charming that there’s no such thing as a wrong turn. Still, two of the quietest and most attractive paths begin at place des Abbesses. You can climb rue de la Vieuville and the stairs in rue Drevet to the minuscule place du Calcaire, which has a lovely view back over the city; rue Lepic into rue des Norvins. Along rue Lepic, you’ll pass the Moulin de la Galette, a lone survivor of Montmartre’s forty – odd windmills whose famous dances were immortalized by Renoir in his Bal du Moulin de la Galette, now hanging in the Musée d’Orsay.
Rue Poulbot, at the beginning of rue des Norvins, leads round to the underground Espace Montmartre-Salvador Dal’, at no. 9 – 11 (daily 10am – 6pm; €10; ⓦwww.daliparis.com; M° Abbesses). With its giant souvenir shop and collection of limited-edition sculptures and etchings, many created towards the end of the artist’s life when he was quite frankly cashing in, this museum lives up to the anagram that André Breton made of Dal’s name Avida Dollars.
Artistic and literary associations abound hereabouts. Zola, Berlioz, Turgenev, Seurat, Degas and Van Gogh lived in the area, while in 1904 Picasso took up a studio in an old piano factory known as the Bateau – Lavoir, on the tiny place Emile – Goudeau. He stayed for the best part of the decade, painting Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon and sharing loves, quarrels and opium trips with Braque, Juan Gris, Modigliani, Max Jacob, Apollinaire and others both famous and obscure. It was Fernande Olivier, thrusting a kitten into her hand as she passed by. “I laughed,” she said, “and he took me to see his studio.” Fernande became his model and lover. Although the original building burnt down some years ago, the modern reconstruction still provides studio space for artists, and you wouldn’t notice any change on the square itself. Even the graceful Wallace fountain (see box above) is still in place.
The winding contours of rue Lepic, at the western side of the Butte, recall the lane that once served the plaster quarry wagons. A resolutely ordinary food market occupies the lower part of the street, but once above rue des Abbesses it becomes progressively more tranquil and elegant. Round the corner, above rue Tourlaque, a flight of steps sneaks between gardens to avenue Junot and the secluded and exclusive cul-de-sac Villa Léandre, just round to the left. To the right, the Cubist house of Dadaist poet Tristan Tzara stands on the corner of another exclusive enclave of houses and gardens. The Hameau des Artistes Higher up the street the square Suzanne-Buisson provides a gentle haven, with a sunken boules pitch overlooked by a statue of St Denis clutching his head to his breast.
