Église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre

Paris (18e arrondissement)

The name of the hill, mons Martyrum, has fixed the memory of the execution of Denis and his companions, and a Merovingian basilica was already dedicated to him here in the 6th century: five marble capitals come from it, reused in the present walls, beside four columns of black marble taken from an ancient building. In 1133-1134 Louis VI and Queen Adélaïde of Savoy founded on this ground an abbey of Benedictine nuns and had a new church built for it; Pope Eugene III consecrated it on Easter Monday 1147, during the stay in Paris in which he also held chapter with the Templars. Adélaïde, widowed then remarried, withdrew to the monastery in 1153 and died there on 18 November 1154: her funeral slab is still in the church. The chevet, rib-vaulted at the end of the 12th century, belongs to the first generation of Gothic architecture, the one that immediately follows Suger's works at Saint-Denis; the Romanesque nave of four bays received its vaults around 1470. At the foot of the hill, the rue des Martyrs and the chapel of the Martyrium mark the place where tradition sets the beheading, and from which the beheaded man is said to have set off on foot towards his tomb.

Wikipédia — Église Saint-Pierre de Montmartre ↗

Getting there : Métro Abbesses or Anvers, then the rue Foyatier or the funicular; the church opens onto the small place du Tertre, fifty metres from the forecourt of the Sacré-Cœur. Open every day, free entry; the cimetière du Calvaire, adjoining, opens only one day a year.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound