The history of Mount Parnassus (which is what the word “Montparnasse” literally means) began in the 16th century, when students expelled by the construction of a monastery from their favorite meeting and dueling place, Pré-au-Claire, moved here, naming the ancient stone quarries the Mountain of the Muses.
Since the Great French Revolution, cafes and cabarets have sprung up in this neighborhood. It is here that the polka dance was born, from here the famous cancan conquered Paris.
Here is also the Paris Observatory, built in the XVII century. It was through it that the “zero meridian” passed, from which, until the XX century, the French counted the land. Near the observatory was executed Marshal Ney (Prince of Moscow), whose monument, according to Rodin – the best in Paris.
Around 1900, artists, poets and writers of the so-called “avant-garde” era conquered Montparnasse. These places attracted by their provinciality, tranquility, cheapness (not far from here passed in those days the southern border of Paris, behind which was sold duty-free wine, which is important!).
To this day you can still walk along the quiet streets where once lived, created, quarreled, had a party people, who very soon began to be perceived as celestials. Here Modigliani met Chaim Sutin, who came from a remote Jewish village in Russia, Marc Chagall painted his “Vitebsk” under the Parisian sky, Moses Kisling organized probably one of the last sword duels in history, the genius Jules Paskin made rapid sketches in Le Dôme café.
In the old “Pavillon des Vins”, left over from the 1900 exhibition, the sculptor Alfred Boucher set up small ateliers in 1902, which he rented out for a fantastically modest fee. This is where future celebrities lived
In the restaurant La Coupole Louis Aragon saw Elsa Triole for the first time, and this “acquaintance” turned out to be for the rest of his life. At one time Vladimir Lenin, Lev Trotsky, Fyodor Stravinsky, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Eisenstein… visited this place.
Every Tuesday at the restaurant Closerie des Lilas (“The Lilac Farm”), presided over by the “Prince of Poets” Paul Faure, there were noisy poetry evenings that gathered all the color of literary and artistic Paris. You can still come here today, have a cup of coffee and read who sat at your table…
No less famous “Rotonde” (La Rotonde) is well described in the memoirs of Ilya Ehrenburg. Let everything back then looked shabbier and poorer. But you sit down on the banquette and it is easy to imagine Alexei Tolstoy passing by….
No less famous “Dom” today is one of the most exquisite fish restaurants in Paris. Such bouillabaisse (bouillabaisse is a fish soup typical for the Mediterranean coast of France – Voltaire’s favorite dish), as here, cannot be tasted anywhere else in the capital.
On one of the streets of Montparnasse, there is the Hotel Istria, where Mayakovsky regularly stayed, and next door is one of the most beautiful houses in Paris, with workshops for artists. Here, in one of his apartments, and to this day live descendants of Serryakova, Benois …
Today Montparnasse is a favorite place of evening rest of Parisians. It is a realm of beautiful “Ottoman” buildings, famous names, delicious smells, exquisite clothes… Cafes, cinemas, night bars, discos – far past midnight there is still a bustling life here.
