- Belleville, Paris
Belleville is a
neighbourhood ofParis ,France , located in theXXe arrondissement andXIXe arrondissement and parts of the Xe and XIe.It was once the center of the independent commune (municipality) of Belleville which was annexed by the City of Paris in 1860 and divided, importantly, between two arrondissements along its main street, the "Rue de Belleville". Geographically, the neighborhood is situated on and around a hill, which is the second highest of the French capital after
Montmartre . The name Belleville (literally "beautiful town") is most likely derived from "belle vue" (beautiful view).History
Historically, Belleville was a working class neighborhood. The independent village of Belleville had played a large part in establishing the
Second French Republic in 1848. Some 20 years later, residents of the incorporated neighborhood of Belleville comprised some of the strongest supporters of theParis Commune in 1871. When the Versailles Army came to reconquer Paris in May of that year, it faced the toughest resistance in both Belleville andMénilmontant . The bloody street fighting persisted in the two eastern districts, and the last barricade 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 around 1918, Ottoman Greeks fleeing persecution in Anatolia around 1920,German Jews fleeing the systematic persecution around 1938, andSpaniards fleeing civil war in 1939. ManyAlgerians andTunisian Jews arrived in the early 1960s.Belleville is home to one of the largest congregations of the
Reformed Church of France in Paris. The Église Réformée de Belleville has been in the area about a century. [http://www.chez.com/erfbelleville/]Culture
Today, Belleville is a colorful, multi-ethnic neighborhood and also home to one of the city's two
Chinatowns , the other located in theXIIIe 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. [http://paris.evous.fr/paris-guide/marche/courses-paris-11e/belleville.htm]During the 1980s Parisian artists and musicians, attracted by the cheaper rents, the numerous vacant large spaces, as well as the old Paris charm of its smaller streets (Belleville was ignored, perhaps spared, during much of the architectural modernization efforts and reparations of the 1960s and 1970s, the greatest exception being the area around the "Place des Fêtes"), started moving there. Many artists now live and work in Belleville and studios are scattered throughout the "quartier". Some abandoned factories have been transformed into art squats, where several alternative artists and musicians, such as the band
Les Rita Mitsouko began their careers.The demographics of the neighborhood have undergone many changes throughout the decades. While Armenians, Greeks, and Ashkenazi Jews were once the predominant ethnic groups, North Africans, and more recently, sub-Saharan Africans have been displacing these others.
Within the neighborhood there is a cemetery and park, the "Parc de Belleville", which ascends the western slope of the hill and offers, in addition to a panoramic view of the Paris skyline, a strikingly modern contrast to the classical gardens of the city center and the eccentric nineteenth century romanticism of the nearby
Parc des Buttes Chaumont . An School of Architecture is also located in Belleville. [http://www.paris-belleville.archi.fr/]The iconic French singer
Édith Piaf grew up there and, according to legend, was born under a lamppost on the steps of the "Rue de Belleville". Acommemorative plaque can be found at number 72. A true "Bellevilloise", Piaf sang and spoke theFrench language in a way that epitomized the "accent de Belleville", which has been compared to theCockney accent ofLondon ,England , although the Parisian dialect is nowadays rarely heard. Belleville is prominently featured in the 2007 biographical film of her life, "La Vie En Rose".Other famous "Bellevillois" include film director
Maurice Tourneur , legendary Frenchcan-can dancerJane Avril and popular singer and actorEddy Mitchell .Popular culture
Belleville has featured in several films including director
Jacques Becker 's 1951 "Casque d'or ", starringSimone Signoret andSerge Reggiani and the 2003 film-cartoon "The Triplets of Belleville " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286244/] (also known as "Belleville Rendezvous").Albert Lamorisse set the 1956 Oscar Winning short film "Le Ballon Rouge" also known as "The Red Balloon " [http://imdb.com/title/tt0048980/] in Belleville and featured many parts of the region which were subsequently demolished in the 1960s.In terms of books the "Malaussène Saga", a series of
crime novel s written by contemporary authorDaniel Pennac , is set in Belleville. Belleville is the subject of several French songs, including Eddy Mitchell's "Belleville ou Nashville?" andClaude Nougaro 's "Le Barbier de Belleville".Politics
Traditionally, Belleville is
leftist and votes accordingly for either the Parti Socialiste (the French Socialist Party), theParti Communiste Français (the French Communist Party) or theLutte Ouvrière (Workers' Struggle). Communist Party headquarters is just outside Colonel Fabien station, between Belleville and its northern neighborLa Villette .Transportation
Belleville is served by the Metro stations Belleville, Pyrénées and Jourdain.
Film shot in Belleville
* 2007
Comme les autres directed byVincent Garenq External links
* [http://www.belleville-village.com/index.php Website of a Belleville business association]
* [http://blog.belleville-paris.info Belleville community blog]
* [http://revel.unice.fr/cmedi/document.html?id=135 More information on Jewish and Muslim communities of Belleville (in French)]
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