Chances are that you know more about Montmartre than you think.

In fact, it is impossible to overestimate just how influential the Parisian arrondissement of Montmartre has been over the past 150 years in the worlds of art, popular culture and our hypermodern societies.

Montmartre is the home of the world’s most infamous cabaret, Moulin Rouge, which is also the title of a well-known film that spun a Billboard Hot 100 number one single. It was the workplace of numerous influential artists, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and it was the cradle that allowed Bohemianism to flourish in the 1800s.

What you may not know, however, is that much like Easter and Christmas, Montmartre was once a secular institution with a secular name.

Up until the time of the Merovingians – a French family that ruled Francia between the fifth and eighth centuries AD – the mount was known as Mons Martis after Mars, the Roman god of war.

Montmartre’s history is littered with wars, disasters, golden ages and international significance

But along with the rest of Europe and its landmarks, it got Christianised in the first century AD and became known as the Mount of the Martyrs when St Denis, the Bishop of Paris, was beheaded there for his beliefs in circa AD 250.

Like all other ancient sites inhabited since time immemorial, Montmartre’s history is littered with wars, disasters, golden ages and international and geographical significance.

In fact, although the hill is located in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital, archaeologists working on site have discovered ruins dating back to Gallo-Roman times.

Place du Tertre. Photo: Nicole Arrigo

Throughout the years, the butte has been used as a location for Roman baths, as the site for a Merovingian chapel, as the seat for a Benedictine monastery, as a battlefield during the French Revolution and even as the meeting place for artists from all over the Western world to come together and paint, write, discuss and live freely in a manner that may still shock us today.

But Montmartre is not all about its history. It’s still a beautiful place to visit.

As I’m sure anyone who has been atop the Eiffel Tower will agree, the city of Paris looks absolutely breath-taking from above.

It is a cacophony of man-made and natural structures full of colour, shapes and styles. Montmartre, whose flat peak reaches 130 metres above sea level, enjoys spectacular views of the outer parts of the city that almost rival those of the famous steel tower.

The Moulin Rouge. Photo: Adelia Saliba

Montmartre is great for all types of tourists, in fact. Architecture buffs can be dazzled by the ethereal beauty of the Sacré Cœur, a religious and political monument built as penance for the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War.

Culture vultures will have a field day visiting Espace Dalí, a museum dedicated to a number of the surrealist’s masterpieces.

Pop-culture enthusiasts and partygoers can revel in the decadence of the Moulin Rouge, world-famous for its cabaret shows.

One of the Sacré Coeur’s chapels. Photo: Ruth Antoncich

Bargain hunters and art lovers can visit the bustling street market, where artworks are created in front of your eyes and sold to you directly by the artist (starting from just €15!).

Coffee-culture socialites and people watchers can sit in one of the many cafes that line Place du Tertre and take in the buzzing scene of shoppers, tourists and wanderers all coming together to keep Montmartre’s significance and importance alive.

One word of advice, however, would be to go in spring or summer.

My friends and I were there at the end of December, and the plummeting temperatures and bone-chilling wind can put a damper on things.

Getting into the Sacré Cœur can take more than an hour of queuing – the Parisians, unlike us, love to queue – and at -3° Celsius, it can feel like an eternity.

It is also wise to keep in mind that Montmartre is a mount and, therefore, it must be climbed. ut don’t worry, the Rue Foyatier has an uber-steep but manageable staircase that goes from the foot of the hill all the way to the summit.

Art for sale at a market. Photo: Violet Vella

It’s almost a killer, but the vibe of the place as soon as you get to the last stair will revive you instantaneously.

As I discovered when I got there, there is simply too much to see and do in a day, and next time I go, I will definitely put together a list of the places I would like to visit again or for the first time and mark them on a map.

Montmartre is an old place that may feel like a maze, and its important not to let it distract you from your goals.

Some of Montmartre’s most beautiful landmarks are also not as well known, so research is an important factor in making sure you make the most of your visit.

Le mur de je t’aime (The Wall of Love), located at the Jehan Rictus garden square, is a 40-square-metre wall full of love notes and inscriptions – great place for a selfie!

There is also the house of the late composer Éric Alfred Leslie Satie, the lesser-known but as influential cabarets La Chat Noir and Lapin Agile, and the Cimitière de Montmartre, which are also worth a visit.

Having said that, every corner and alley in Montmartre tells a thousand stories of legendary artists, powerful rulers and the common men and women who have inhabited or visited this magical place.

In fact, it’s quite difficult to determine whether it’s Montmartre’s history that’s made the area famous or whether it was Montmartre that made its history famous.

http://en.parisinfo.com