Montmartre is a large hill in Paris's 18th arrondissement. It is 430 ft high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank in the northern section of the city. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by rue Caulaincourt and rue Custine on the north, rue de Clignancourt on the east, and boulevard de Clichy and boulevard de Rochechouart to the south, containing 150 acres. Montmartre is primarily known for its artistic history, the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur on its summit, and as a nightclub district. The other church on the hill, Saint Pierre de Montmartre, built in 1147, was the church of the prestigious Montmartre Abbey. On August 15, 1534, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier and five other companions bound themselves by vows in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, 11 rue Yvonne Le Tac, the first step in the creation of the Jesuits.

Near the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the twentieth, during the Belle Époque, many artists had studios or worked in or around Montmartre, including Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, and Vincent van Gogh. Montmartre is also the setting for several hit movies.

Known for its painters, portraitists, caricaturist and silhouette artists, Place de Tertre welcomes thousands of travelers every day. By day the streets are usually packed with tourists seeking a portrait; by night you hear the constant din of people chattering and enjoying a meal and a glass of wine at one of the many restaurants in the square.

The square of Place du Tertre is considered by many to be the heart of Montmartre, located high on the hill approximately 300 meters from the Sacre Coeur Basilica.

The artists located in the square of Place due Tertre pay an annual fee of just over 550euros for a 1msq space, which is shared on an alternating roster with another artist. Essentially they only work half the week. Nevertheless, with more than ten million visitors per month to this fine street, this has the potential to be a lucrative business.

Aside from largely being a great vantage point in "The Battle of Paris" and also in World War II, two interesting events can be traced back to these streets.  It is purported that in 1898 on Christmas Eve, Louis Renault's first automobile was driven up the steep hills of Montmartre to Place du Tertre. This is said to have ignited the beginning of the automobile industry in France.

Another popular claim in Parisian history is that during "The Battle of Paris", Place du Tertre became the birth place of the word "Bistro" into the French dialect. Located at street number 6 is Chez la mére Catherine cafe, and it is here that in 1814, Russian soldiers would shout "Bystro Bystro" at the waitresses. In the Russian language "Bystro" means "quickly", and the soldiers were calling for the waitresses to hurry and provide them with one last drink before rejoining their ranks.

This site is served by metro, with line 2 stations at Anvers, Pigalle, and Blanche, and line 12 stations at Pigalle, Abbesses, Lamarck � Caulaincourt, and Jules Joffrin.