Belleville () was a French commune in the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

department, lying immediately east of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

. It was one of four communes entirely annexed by the city of Paris in 1860. Its territory is now shared by the 19th and 20th arrondissements, but a neighborhood has retained its name: the ''quartier de Belleville''. The village was built on and around a hill, the second highest of the French capital after

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

.Emmanuel Jacomin, Clément Lepidis, 1975: ''Belleville'', Paris, Éd. Henri Veyrier The composer and conductor Jules Pillevesse (1837–1903) was born in Belleville.

History

The area was inhabited for many years by people who worked the local quarries, vintners and other merchants. A commune was created in 1789. Its name is derived from ''belle vue'' (literally "beautiful view") and its territory extended to what is today the

Parc des Buttes Chaumont The Parc des Buttes Chaumont (; English: Park of Buttes Chaumont) is a public park situated in northeastern Paris, France, in the 19th arrondissement. Occupying , it is the fifth-largest park in Paris, after the Bois de Vincennes, Bois de Bou ...

and the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

. The population increased dramatically in the first half of the 19th century and

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

decided to incorporate it into Paris.

References

20th arrondissement of Paris Belleville, Paris {{Paris-geo-stub