Mass tourism sparks ‘battle’ in Montmartre

PARIS — Inside a dark, low-ceilinged room once frequented by Picasso and Modigliani when they were still struggling artists, a group of tourists from Russia, Canada and Australia are listening to traditional French songs.

This is the Lapin Agile, a small house surrounded by acacia trees which is home to the last cabaret in Montmartre, an iconic neighborhood perched on a hilltop in the middle of Paris.

But in recent decades, this villagelike district of steep hills and sweeping views has been transformed by the arrival of mass tourism.

“It’s the last of the traditional cabarets,” said owner Yves Mathieu, grumbling about the proliferation of souvenir shops selling Paris mugs and Eiffel Tower key rings clogging the nearby cobblestones streets.

“I’m 90 years old but I’m not giving up,” he said, pointing to the cabaret’s sparse furnishings of plain wooden tables and benches.

Its walls are decorated with copies of works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, artists whose original paintings once helped pay for their meals there.

Many singers also made their debut here — among them Leo Ferre, Georges Brassens and Charles Aznavour who died earlier this month aged 94.

But these days, the top of the hill — “la Butte” — which was once a 19th-century mecca for artists, risks being swamped by industrial-scale international tourism.

Some 12 million tourists tramp up its slopes every year, usually to admire the white-stone Sacre Coeur basilica, the panoramic views of Paris, or to visit the most famous of the French capital’s vineyards.

But the Place du Tertre, a villagelike square at the top, is threatening to become some sort of “Disneyland”, said Alain Coquard, president of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Montmartre”, an association set up in 1921 to oppose urban development.

For now, Montmartre hasn’t yet turned into Venice, he said of the historic Italian city which is visited by around 24 million tourists annually.

“There is still stuff worth saving,” Coquard said.

But for long-time residents, it’s another story.

“Here, at the top of the Butte, it’s game over,” sighed this 76-yearold, sitting at his usual table in a restaurant once painted by Vincent Van Gogh.

Property prices gone wild

Spiraling rents have driven out ordinary shopkeepers, said Frederic Loup who owns a pharmacy which has been serving local residents since 1927. Today, it is the only local shop left in the area.

“The baker left. The butcher also left. The problem is the rents, which only the souvenir shops can afford,” he said.

Once favored by penniless artists at the end of the 19th century for its cheap lodgings, Montmartre has seen property prices sky-rocket over the past three decades, with its homes snapped up by the rich and famous.

While the area’s unique charm has caught the attention of stars like Hollywood actor Johnny Depp, locals are moving out.

Thirty years ago, the cost of an apartment was around $1,700 per square meter.

Today, buyers are looking at $11,000 or even $23,000 per square meter, said Brice Moyse who heads Immopolis, an estate agency which specializes in properties in Montmartre.