As you head up to Montmartre you pass through the streets of Pigalle. The crowning glory is of course the Moulin Rouge. Opened in 1889 by Charles Zidier and Joseph Oller during the Belle Epoque when all of Paris was celebrating the end of the Siege of Paris. Montmartre was the home of the artists and many flocked to the newest venue on the hill including Henri Toulouse-Lautrec who made the dancers and venue famous. Zidier and Oller also owned the Olympia and when they wanted to open a new venue they decided to pay homage to the windmills that once dotted the hill and the nearby Rue Lepic by topping their club with the large red windmill.
Up until this time a woman's body was not to be revealed and if it was in art it had to be as an allegory or mythological. In 1863 Manet shocked all of Paris with the nude Olympia but thirty years later the temperature began to cool. The Moulin Rouge was to be the first stage to show women's legs and a bit more. At 10 pm each night the doors opened and on the stage was Jane Avril and her jerky dances that wowed the crowd. Listen to more about Jane Avril in the episode we did last year.
The Moulin Rouge was destroyed by a fire on February 27. 1915 and due to the war it was not rebuilt until 1921. Today it is one of the most popular sights in Paris and the largest customer in the world of champagne. Be sure to also check out the new rooftop bar under the windmill.
Just around the corner head up the Rue Lepic, named for General Louis Lepic under Napoleon who sealed his deal with the boss by naming all five of his boys, Napoleon. One of the most famous locations on the street is the Cafe des 2 Moulins. You may know it a bit more from the movie Amelie, where the lovely Audrey Tautou worked. In 2001 director Jean-Pierre Jeunet decided to make a movie filmed in his neighborhood and favorite spots. In 2002 the cafe was purchased by a new owner who removed the iconic cigarette booth but left the large image of Amelie in the back. The staff is wonderful if you stop by but be sure to sit down and buy something if you want to take any photos.
Rue Lepic bends to the left and just around the corner at no 54 is the small apartment that The van Gogh lived in on the 3rd floor in 1886. His brother Vincent decided to move to Paris and moved into his tiny apartment. For two years the brothers lived together until Vincent left for Arles in 1888. Ten years prior another artist lived two doors down at no 50, Edgar Degas.
At one point most of the hill of Montmartre was covered with convents, abbeys, and churches. The Rue des Abbesses marks the area that was once the abbey built in 1133 under Louis VI. It replaces the 7th-century church that stood for four hundred years. Adelaide de Savoie, wife of Louis VI was very devout and asked her husband to move the monks out so she can create an abbey and a temple to Saint-Denis.
The new abbey was consecrated in 1136 by Pope Innocent II and over time more than 65 nuns served as the head abbess. Beginning in 1548 it was the king of France, Henri II that named Catherine de Clermont who was also the niece of his lover Diane de Poitiers. In 1559 a fire ravaged Montmartre destroying much of the abbey. In 1590, Henri IV met Abbess Claude and began an affair with her. Claude would travel with the king and thought he would annul his marriage to Marguerite to marry her. On a trip to Senlis, he met Claude’s cousin, Gabrielle d’Estrees would be the love of his life. So many of the nuns were involved with the soldiers of Henri IV the abbey was known as the “store of the whores of the army”.
Listen to the episode we did on the life of Gabrielle.
In 1611 Marie de Beauvilliers was appointed by Henri IV and had the abbey rebuilt. It stood until the Revolution when they were ordered to leave in 1792 and much of it was destroyed,
The Eglise Saint Jean de Montmartre stands overlooking the Place des Abbesses. Built by Anatole de Baudot who studied under Viollet le Duc. Baudot wanted to craft a structure out of cement and the Abbot Sobaux was the perfect partner who grew frustrated with the elders of the church that held the pursestrings. In 1900 the church was almost finished until March 23 when Abbot Sobaux was taken to court by the leaders that accused him of pulling a fast one on them. Losing in court it was decreed on August 28, 1900, that the church be destroyed. In the 11th hour, a clause was discovered which would save the church and the abbot. A year later a new judgment was passed down and closed the church until 1903. On June 13, 1904, the church was consecrated and opened and has been open ever since. Check out the fantastic ceramics on the facade by Alexandre Bigot.
Just across the way is the Abbesses metro station which is one of the few original designs of Hector Guimard that remains in Paris. Originally located at the Hotel de Ville it was moved in 1974 to this location.
Against the wall, a few steps from the metro stop is a lovely little Paris landmark. In the Square Jehan-Rictus lives the I love You wall, Le Mur des Je T’aime. The blue enameled lava tiles have only been there since 2000, but the story behind it dates back a few more years. Frédéric Baron in 1992 would wander the streets of Paris with a notebook in hand and would ask passersby of all nationalities how they would say, “I love you”. Filling page after page and notebook after notebook just to satisfy his curiosity.
A friend told him that his project should be shared. Claire Kito, a calligraphy specialist, worked with Frédéric taking each of his pages and bringing them to life. In over 250 languages and 311 phrases they would be recreated onto 612 enameled tiles, each the same size as the pages he recorded them all on. Muralist Daniel Boulogne would hear about the project and join in to complete the final installation. Frédéric’s labor of love would be discovered by a French publisher and would release “the book of I love you’s” two years before the wall was even a thought. Le Mur des Je T’aime is a popular spot for visitors and lovers.
Often crowded with people looking for the phrase in their native language, standing in front and snapping a photo, or better yet stealing a kiss. The royal blue tiles covered with the phrases written in white are dotted with specs of red. These are to represent a broken heart, if they were all gathered together they would become one solid heart. One thing is certain when you stand in front of this wall, while the phrase is so simple, it means the same thing in every corner of the world. All we all want is love, whether it be the love of another or the feeling of falling in love with a place that makes you feel alive. And maybe we would all be better off if we remembered that.