Parc des Buttes Chaumont

Belleville is a neighbourhood of Paris, parts of which lie in four different arrondissements. The major portion of Belleville straddles the borderline between the 20th arrondissement and the 19th along its main street, the Rue de Belleville. The remainder lies in the 10th and 11tharrondissements.

It was once the independent commune (municipality) of Belleville which was annexed by the City of Paris in 1860 and divided between two arrondissements Geographically, the neighborhood is situated on and around a hill which vies with Montmartre as the highest in Paris. The name Belleville literally means “beautiful town”.

Historically, Belleville was a working class neighborhood. People living in the independent village of Belleville played a large part in establishing the Second French Republic through their actions during the Revolution of 1848. In 1871, residents of the incorporated neighborhood of Belleville were some of the strongest supporters of the Paris Commune. When the Versailles Army came to reconquer Paris in May of that year, it faced some of the toughest resistance in Belleville and in neighboring Ménilmontant. The bloody street fighting persisted in the two eastern districts, and the last of the barricades is said to have been in the Rue Ramponeau in Belleville.

During the first half of the 20th century, many immigrants settled there: Ottoman Armenians fleeing systematic massacres (1915–1917), Ottoman Greeks fleeing persecution in Anatolia around 1920, German Jews fleeing systematic Nazi persecutions during the 1930s, and Spaniards fleeing civil war in 1936. Many Algerians and Tunisian Jews arrived in the early 1960s.

Belleville is home to one of the largest congregations of the Reformed Church of France. The Église Réformée de Belleville has been in the area since shortly before World War I.

Today, Belleville is a colorful, multi-ethnic neighborhood and also home to one of the city’s two Chinatowns, the other located in the 13th arrondissement near the Place d’Italie. Since the 1980s, an important Chinese community has been established there. There are many restaurants and associations as well as stores offering Chinese products. A fairly large and popular outdoor market is held there every Tuesday and Friday along the Boulevard de Belleville, where many local Île-de-France farmers sell their produce.

Suggested Hotels

Hotel de la Perdrix Rouge - http://www.hotel-perdrixrouge-paris.com/