Page 168 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

166  FR ANCE AND THE L OW C OUNTRIES

The deceptively rustic exterior of Au Lapin Agile, one of the best-known nightspots in Paris
d Montmartre literary haunt Au Lapin Agile, promised to finance its
or “Agile Rabbit,” is now a construction should France
q Abbesses, Anvers. @ 30, 54, 80,
85. Sacré-Coeur: 35 Rue du Chevalier club. The celebrated Moulin be spared from the impending
de la Barre. Tel 01-53 41 89 00. Rouge nightclub is also in Prussian onslaught. Despite
Open daily. & for crypt and dome. the vicinity. the war and the Siege of Paris,
7 restricted. ∑ sacre-coeur- The name Montmartre, invasion was averted and work
montmartre.com thought to derive from martyrs began in 1876 to Paul Abadie’s
tortured and killed here in designs. The basilica, completed
The steep hill of Montmartre around AD 250, is also in 1914, is one of France’s most
has been associated with artists associated with the grandiose important Roman Catholic
for 200 years. Théodore Géricault Sacré-Coeur. Dedicated to the shrines. It contains many
and Camille Corot came here at Sacred Heart of Christ, the treasures, including a figure of
the start of the 19th century, basilica was built as a result of a the Virgin Mary and Child (1896)
and in the early 20th century, vow made at the outbreak of by Brunet.
Maurice Utrillo immortalized the the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Below the forecourt, Square
streets in his works. Today, street Business men Alexandre Legentil Willette is laid out on the side
artists of varying talents exhibit and Hubert Rohault de Fleury of a hill in a series of descending
their work in the terraces. A funicular railway
Place du Tertre, and takes visitors up from the
thrive on the tourist bottom of the gardens to the
trade. Exhibitions at foot of the steps of the basilica.
the Musée de
Montmartre usually
feature works of f Parc de la Villette
artists associated 30 Ave Corentin-Cariou. q Porte de
with the area, while la Villette. @ 75, 139, 150, 152, 250A.
the Musée d’Art Naïf Cité des Sciences: Tel 01-40 05 80 00.
Max Fourny houses Open Tue–Sun. & 7
almost 600 examples
of naive art. The The old slaughterhouses and
Espace Montmartre livestock market of Paris have
Salvador Dalí displays been transformed into this
more than 300 works massive urban park, designed
by the Surrealist by Bernard Tschumi.
painter and sculptor. The major attraction of the
Much of the area still site is the Cité des Sciences et
preserves its rather de l’Industrie, a hugely popular
louche, prewar science and technology
atmosphere. Former Approach to the Romano-Byzantine Sacré-Coeur basilicia museum. Architect Adrien
For hotels and restaurants see pp206–8 and pp209–11

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