Place du Tertre

Place du Tertre is a cobblestone square in the Montmartre district that functions as an open-air studio, with artists’ easels crowded into tight, one-meter-square plots. The name refers to its position on a small hill, or butte, which sits one hundred thirty meters above the city. While it serves tourists today with portraits and paintings, the square was laid out in sixteen thirty-five as the central village square of what was then a secluded, rural commune far outside Paris.