Paris doesn’t have the reputation of being the most hilly city in the world, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its mounts, buttes and other hills! In fact, the capital’s highest point is between 128 and 130 metres above sea level, and is contested by two well-known sites!
The Buttes-aux-Cailles in the 13ᵉ arrondissement, the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5ᵉ arrondissement, then the Buttes-Chaumont, the Butte Bergeyre… Paris has a dozen small buttes ranging from 61 to just over 130 meters, but which of them dominates the others? The match would be between Belleville and Montmartre!
Belleville or Montmartre, who can claim to be the capital’s highest point?
This question is the subject of much debate, not because of any rivalry between Belleville and Montmartre, but for legal reasons!
Which point is considered the highest in Paris will depend above all on whether it belongs to the public or private domain of Paris! On the public side, it stands at 128.5 meters in the Rue du Télégraphe in Belleville! To locate it, go to the entrance to Belleville cemetery, at number 40, where you’ll see a commemorative plaque! For the record, it was here that engineer Claude Chappe experimented with the first telegraph in 1793.
And on the private side, it’s 130.5 meters up in the Calvaire cemetery, next to Saint-Pierre de Montmartre church! Not open to the public, the site is nevertheless open once a year, on November 1 for All Saints’ Day.
© Benchaum / Wikicommons
Finally, if there’s one highlight that’s not open to interpretation, it’s the capital’s tallest building! At 330 metres (312 without its antenna), the Eiffel Tower is the highest point in Paris!