Editing Montmartre (section)

===Antiquity to 18th century===
[[Image:StPierreParis.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Saint-Pierre de Montmartre]] (originally 1133, much of it destroyed in 1790 and rebuilt in the 19th century) seen from the dome of the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur]]
[[File:Vincent van Gogh - Le Moulin de la Galette.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The ''Moulin de la Galette'', painted by [[Vincent van Gogh]] in 1887 (Carnegie Museum of Art)]]
Archaeological excavations show that the heights of Montmartre were occupied from at least Gallo-Roman times. Texts from the 8th century cite the name of ''mons Mercori'' (Mount Mercury); a 9th-century text speaks of Mount Mars. Excavations in 1975 north of the [[Saint-Pierre de Montmartre|Church of Saint-Pierre]] found coins from the 3rd century and the remains of a major wall. Earlier excavations in the 17th century at the Fontaine-du-But (2 rue Pierre-Dac) found vestiges of Roman baths from the 2nd century.<ref name="Paris p. 477">''Dictionnaire historique de Paris'', p. 477.</ref>

The butte owes its particular religious importance to the text entitled ''Miracles of Saint-Denis'', written before 885 by [[Hilduin of Saint-Denis|Hilduin]], abbot of the monastery of Saint-Denis, which recounted how [[Saint Denis of Paris|Saint Denis]], a Christian bishop, was decapitated on the hilltop in 250 AD on orders of the Roman prefect Fescennius Sisinius for preaching the Christian faith to the Gallo-Roman inhabitants of [[Lutetia]]. According to Hilduin, Denis collected his head and carried it as far as the ''fontaine Saint-Denis'' (on modern ''impasse Girardon''), then descended the north slope of the hill, where he died. Hilduin wrote that a church had been built "in the place formerly called Mont de Mars, and then, by a happy change, 'Mont des Martyrs'."<ref name="Paris p. 477" />

In 1134, King [[Louis VI of France|Louis VI]] purchased the Merovingian chapel and built on the site the church of [[Saint-Pierre de Montmartre]], still standing. He also founded [[Montmartre Abbey|the Royal Abbey of Montmartre]], a monastery of the [[Benedictine order]], whose buildings, gardens and fields occupied most of Montmartre. He also built a small chapel, called the ''Martyrium'', at the site where it was believed that Saint Denis had been decapitated. It became a popular pilgrimage site. In the 17th century, a priory called ''abbaye d'en bas'' was built at that site, and in 1686 it was occupied by a community of nuns.<ref name="Paris p. 477" />

By the 15th century, the north and northeast slopes of the hill were the site of a village surrounded by vineyards, gardens and orchards of [[peach tree|peach]] and [[cherry tree]]s. The first mills were built on the western slope in 1529, grinding [[wheat]], [[barley]] and [[rye]]. There were thirteen mills at one time, though by the late nineteenth century only two remained,<ref name="Paris p. 477" />

During the 1590 [[Siege of Paris (1590)|Siege of Paris]], in the last decade of the [[French Wars of Religion]], [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] placed his [[artillery]] on top of the ''butte'' of Montmartre to fire down into the city. The siege eventually failed when a large relief force approached and forced Henry to withdraw.

The abbey was destroyed in 1790 during the [[French Revolution]], and the convent demolished to make place for [[gypsum]] [[Mines of Paris|mines]]. The last abbess, [[Marie-Louise de Laval-Montmorency]], was guillotined in 1794.<ref>{{cite book |last=Monnier |first=Mechtilde |author-link= |date=1921 |title=La dernière abbesse de Montmartre: Marie Louise de Montmorency-Laval, 1723-1794 |url=https://archive.org/details/ladernireabbes04monnuoft |location=Paris |publisher= Paris P. Lethielleux |page= |isbn=}}</ref> The church of Saint-Pierre was saved. At the place where the chapel of the Martyrs was located (now 11 rue Yvonne-Le Tac), an oratory was built in 1855. It was renovated in 1994.<ref name="Paris p. 477" />

[[File:Chapelle des Martyrs Montmartre Abbey.jpg|thumb|left|The Chapel of the Martyrs of Montmartre Abbey in the 17th century]]

In 1790, Montmartre was located just outside the limits of Paris. That year, under the revolutionary government of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]], it became the ''[[Communes of France|commune]]'' of Montmartre, with its town hall located on ''[[place du Tertre]]'', site of the former abbey. The main businesses of the ''commune'' were wine making, stone quarries and gypsum mines. 
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====Mining and archaeology====
{{see also|Mines of Paris}}
[[File:Palaeotherium medium montmatre cuvier.JPG|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Skull of ''[[Palaeotherium]] medium'' from Montmartre]]
The mining of gypsum had begun in the [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman period]], first in open air mines and then underground, and continued until 1860. The gypsum was cut into blocks, baked, then ground and put into sacks. Sold as ''montmartarite'', it was used for plaster, because of its resistance to fire and water. Between the 7th and 9th centuries, most of the sarcophagi found in ancient sites were made of molded gypsum. In modern times, the mining was done with explosives, which riddled the ground under the butte with tunnels, making the ground very unstable and difficult to build upon. The construction of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur required making a special foundation that descended {{convert|40|metres}} under the ground to hold the structure in place.<ref>''Dictionnaire historique de Paris'', p. 476.</ref> A [[fossil]] tooth found in one of these mines was identified by [[Georges Cuvier]] as an extinct [[equine]], which he dubbed ''[[Palaeotherium]]'', the "ancient animal". His sketch of the entire animal in 1825 was matched by a skeleton discovered later.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Simon J.|last1=Knell|first2=Suzanne|last2=Macleod|first3=Sheila E. R.|last3=Watson|title=Museum revolutions: how museums change and are changed|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=Abingdon-on-Thames, England|date=1967|ISBN=978-0-415-44467-5}}</ref>