Martyrium of Saint Denis, Montmartre

The Martyrium of Saint Denis is a small, quiet crypt tucked away at eleven Rue Yvonne le Tac. You can identify it by its plain, cream-colored walls and the simple altar inside, which occupies the site long believed to be where Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris, was beheaded around the year two hundred and fifty. Local tradition holds that after his execution, the bishop miraculously picked up his severed head and walked several miles north to the location of his eventual burial, an event that earned the surrounding hill its name, Montmartre, or the Mountain of the Martyrs.