Paris is not a flat city. On the contrary, the capital has several hills that offer beautiful views. Of all these hills, which is the highest in Paris? The answer is a bit surprising…
In a cemetery
The debate on the highest point of the capital has not finished fueling the conversations. Between the supporters of Montmartre and those of the Telegraph, the arguments jostle. The whole question depends on the precise point where the measurement is made. Is it the public domain or the private domain, in other words between the points freely accessible to the public and those which are not. In the private domain, it is in Montmartre that the highest point of the capital is located, culminating at 130.53 meters above sea level at the level of the cemetery of the calvary, which adjoins the church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre. But this cemetery, listed in the inventory of historical monuments, is only open to the public one day a year: November 1, for All Saints Day.
The other highest point is in Belleville
In the public space, it is not in Montmartre that you have to go to try to touch the sky, but in Belleville ! At the entrance to the Belleville cemetery (40, rue du Télégraphe), a small plaque mentions that “this altitude landmark located at 128.508 meters above mean sea level, is the highest on the public domain of the city of Paris” . For the record, it was here that the aerial telegraph was invented, which logically required altitude… Several hills in Paris
Several reliefs in Paris
In addition to these high points, several reliefs composed of gypsum test mounds form small hills in Paris. Among them, on the right bank, Ménilmontant (108 meters), the Buttes-Chaumont (103 meters) or the Butte Bergeyre (100 meters). On the left bank, it is more difficult to climb but this is the case in Montsouris (78 meters), Montparnasse (73 meters) or Butte-aux-Cailles for example (63 meters). The average altitude is 33 meters in the capital.
