Antiquity to 18th century (originally 1133, much of it destroyed in 1790 and rebuilt in the 19th century) seen from the dome of the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur in 1887 (Carnegie Museum of Art) Archaeological excavations show that the heights of Montmartre were occupied from at least Gallo-Roman times. Texts from the 8th century cite the name of
mons Mercori (Mount Mercury); a 9th-century text speaks of Mount Mars. Excavations in 1975 north of the
Church of Saint-Pierre found coins from the 3rd century and the remains of a major wall. Earlier excavations in the 17th century at the Fontaine-du-But (2 rue Pierre-Dac) found vestiges of Roman baths from the 2nd century. The butte owes its particular religious importance to the text entitled
Miracles of Saint-Denis, written before 885 by
Hilduin, abbot of the monastery of Saint-Denis, which recounted how
Saint Denis, a Christian bishop, was decapitated on the hilltop in 250 AD on orders of the Roman prefect Fescennius Sisinius for preaching the Christian faith to the Gallo-Roman inhabitants of
Lutetia. According to Hilduin, Denis collected his head and carried it as far as the
fontaine Saint-Denis (on modern
impasse Girardon), then descended the north slope of the hill, where he died. Hilduin wrote that a church had been built "in the place formerly called Mont de Mars, and then, by a happy change, 'Mont des Martyrs'." The church of Saint-Pierre was saved. At the place where the chapel of the Martyrs was located (now 11 rue Yvonne-Le Tac), an oratory was built in 1855. It was renovated in 1994. A
fossil tooth found in one of these mines was identified by
Georges Cuvier as an extinct
equine, which he dubbed
Palaeotherium, the "ancient animal". His sketch of the entire animal in 1825 was matched by a skeleton discovered later.
19th century '' by
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876) depicts a Sunday afternoon dance in Montmartre. Russian soldiers occupied Montmartre during the
Battle of Paris in 1814. They used the altitude of the hill for artillery bombardment of the city. Montmartre remained outside of the city limits of Paris until January 1, 1860, when it was annexed to the city along with other communities (
faubourgs) surrounding Paris, and became part of the
18th arrondissement of Paris. In 1871, Montmartre was the site of the beginning of the revolutionary uprising of the
Paris Commune. During the
Franco-Prussian War, the French army had stored a large number of cannons in a park at the top of the hill, near where the basilica is today. On 18 March 1871, the soldiers from the French Army tried to remove the cannons from the hilltop. They were blocked by members of the politically radicalised Paris
National Guard, who captured and then killed two French army generals, and installed a revolutionary government that lasted for two months. The heights of Montmartre were retaken by the French Army with heavy fighting at the end of May 1871, during what became known as the
Semaine Sanglante, or "Bloody Week". In 1870, the future French prime minister during World War I,
Georges Clemenceau, was appointed mayor of the 18th arrondissement, including Montmartre, by the new government of the
Third Republic, and was also elected to the
National Assembly. A member of the radical republican party, Clemenceau tried unsuccessfully to find a peaceful compromise between the even more radical Paris Commune and the more conservative French government. The Commune refused to recognize him as mayor, and seized the town hall. He ran for a seat in the council of the Paris Commune, but received less than eight hundred votes. He did not participate in the Commune, and was out of the city when the Commune was suppressed by the French army. In 1876, he again was elected as deputy for Montmartre and the 18th arrondissement. The Basilica of the
Sacré-Cœur was built in Montmartre from 1876 to 1919, financed by public subscription as a gesture of
expiation for the suffering of France during the
Franco-Prussian War. Its white dome is a highly visible landmark in the city, and near it artists set up their easels each day amidst the tables and colourful umbrellas of the
place du Tertre. By the 19th century, the butte was famous for its cafés,
guinguettes with public dancing, and cabarets.
Le Chat Noir at 84
boulevard de Rochechouart was founded in 1881 by
Rodolphe Salis, and became a popular haunt for writers and poets. The composer
Eric Satie earned money by playing the piano there. The
Moulin Rouge at 94
boulevard de Clichy was founded in 1889 by
Joseph Oller and
Charles Zidler; it became the birthplace of the French
cancan. Artists who performed in the cabarets of Montmartre included
Yvette Guilbert,
Marcelle Lender,
Aristide Bruant,
La Goulue,
Georges Guibourg,
Mistinguett,
Fréhel,
Jane Avril, and
Damia.
Artists gather (late 19th–early 20th century) 's advertisement for the tour of
Le Chat Noir cabaret During the
Belle Époque from 1872 to 1914, many artists lived and worked in Montmartre, where the rents were low and the atmosphere congenial.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir rented space at
12 rue Cortot in 1876 to paint
Bal du moulin de la Galette, showing a dance at Montmartre on a Sunday afternoon.
Maurice Utrillo lived at the same address from 1906 to 1914, and
Raoul Dufy shared an atelier there from 1901 to 1911. The building is now the
Musée de Montmartre.
Pablo Picasso,
Amedeo Modigliani and other artists lived and worked in a building called during the years 1904–1909, where Picasso painted one of his most important masterpieces, ''
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon''. Several composers, including
Erik Satie, lived in the neighbourhood. Most of the artists left after the outbreak of World War I, the majority of them going to the
Montparnasse quarter. Artists' associations such as
Les Nabis and the
Incohérents were formed and individuals including
Vincent van Gogh,
Pierre Brissaud,
Alfred Jarry,
Jacques Villon,
Raymond Duchamp-Villon,
Henri Matisse,
André Derain,
Suzanne Valadon,
Edgar Degas,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,
Théophile Steinlen, and
African-American expatriates such as
Langston Hughes worked in Montmartre and drew some of their inspiration from the area. The last of the
bohemian Montmartre artists was
Gen Paul (1895–1975), born in Montmartre and a friend of Utrillo. Paul's calligraphic expressionist lithographs, sometimes memorializing picturesque Montmartre itself, owe a lot to
Raoul Dufy. Among the last of the neighborhood's bohemian gathering places was
R-26, an artistic salon frequented by
Josephine Baker,
Le Corbusier and
Django Reinhardt. Its name was commemorated by Reinhardt in his 1947 tune "R. vingt-six".
Modern day cabaret There is a small
vineyard in the Rue Saint-Vincent, which continues the tradition of wine production in the Île de France, and a
wild garden, occupied by
midwife toads, also in the Rue Saint-Vincent. The vineyard yields about of wine per year. The
Musée de Montmartre is in the house where the painters
Maurice Utrillo and
Suzanne Valadon lived and worked in second-floor studios. The house was
Pierre-Auguste Renoir's first Montmartre address. Many other personalities moved through the premises. The mansion in the garden at the back is the oldest hotel on Montmartre, and one of its first owners was Claude de la Rose, a 17th-century actor known as
Rosimond, who bought it in 1680. Claude de la Rose was the actor who replaced
Molière, and who, like his predecessor, died on stage. Nearby, day and night, tourists visit such sights as
Place du Tertre and the cabaret du
Lapin Agile, where the artists had worked and gathered. Many renowned artists, such as painter and sculptor
Edgar Degas and film director
François Truffaut, are buried in the
Cimetière de Montmartre and the
Cimetière Saint-Vincent. Near the top of the butte,
Espace Dalí showcases
surrealist artist
Salvador Dalí's work. Montmartre is an officially designated historic district with limited development allowed in order to maintain its historic character. Downhill to the southwest is the
red-light district of
Pigalle. That area is, today, largely known for a wide variety of stores specializing in instruments for rock music. There are also several concert halls, also used for rock music. The actual Moulin Rouge theatre is also in Pigalle, near the Blanche métro station. In 2024, the area hosted the final finishing circuits of the
men's and
women's cycling road race at the
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, with large crowds attending the race. It also served as part of the
2025 Tour de France final stage, using a part of the same circuit. ==In popular culture==