Butte aux cailles

The Butte aux Cailles sits on a limestone hill that rises abruptly from the surrounding district. It remains a village within Paris, defined by low-slung houses and narrow, cobblestone streets. In eighteen seventy-one, the residents here took up arms during the Paris Commune. They managed to repel government troops for several days, shielding the neighborhood behind barricades made from paving stones. Today, the area keeps its quiet, independent character, insulated from the wide boulevards and high-rise apartments that dominate much of the thirteenth arrondissement.