Place du Tertre

Place du Tertre sits at the summit of the tallest hill in Paris, and its name reflects that simple geography. The word tertre refers to a hillock or small mound, acknowledging the square's position one hundred thirty meters above the city floor. While it serves today as a magnet for visitors, it spent its early centuries as the heart of the Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, a powerful religious institution founded in the twelfth century. The square only entered the public sphere in sixteen thirty-five, when it began its transformation from a monastic courtyard into the central plaza of a sleepy, independent village.