and threadbare erotica, and the Place du Tertre at the top of the hill, swamped with tourists hunting for local colour.
The Abbesses metro station was designed by architect Hector Guimard. These once-ubiquitous Art Nouveau station entrances can still be found dotted throughout the city.
Overlooking the square is St-Jean l’Evangéliste de Montmartre, the first church to be built using reinforced concrete. Designed by Anatole de Baudot, it was completed in 1904 and its interior contains some typically Art Nouveau flower motifs, while its interlocking arches suggest something a little more Moorish. Its workaday red-brick façade has earned it the less than glamorous nickname St-Jean-des-Briques (St John of the Bricks).
St-Jean l’Evangéliste de Montmartre
Opening times: 9am–noon, 3–7pm Mon–Sat, 2–7pm Sun
Tel: 01. 46 06 43 96
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Leave Place des Abbesses via rue Yvonne-Le-Tac and you will come to the Chapelle du Martyre on your right at No. 9. This chapel dating from the 19th century stands on the site of a medieval convent chapel, said to be the place where St Denis, the first Bishop of Paris, was beheaded for his Christianity in 250 CE. It was a pilgrimage site of major importance in the Middle Ages. The crypt of the original chapel was where St Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, took his religious vows in 1534.
Chapelle du Martyre
Opening times: 10am–noon, 3–5pm Fri–Wed
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Retrace your steps along rue Yvonne-Le-Tac and turn left onto rue des Martyrs. Then turn right onto Boulevard de Clichy and the Moulin Rouge will be on your right at No. 82. The Cancan, that energetic high-kicking dance performed to the tune of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, is most often associated with the Moulin Rouge thanks to the iconic posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Actually it originated on the other side of town, in Montparnasse, in the polka gardens on the rue de la Grande-Chaumière.
The Moulin Rouge was turned into a dance hall in 1900 and was home to the famous Dorriss Dancers, which included Yvette Guilbert and Jane Avril. This dance-show tradition lives on today, with the Las Vegas-style revue at the Moulin Rouge that includes high-tech lighting and magic shows.
Montmartre
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