Paris Montmartre (18ème)

The 18 ème ’s museums are as varied as the arrondissement itself. At the northern end past the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur is the historic Musée de Montmartre, which stands in stark contrast to the fantastically explicit Musée de l’Erotisme bordering the 9 ème .

Musée De L’Erotisme. Bronze statues in the missionary position, Japanimation sex cartoons, vagina-shaped puppets—seven floors of steamy creations await visitors at Paris’s shrine to sex. The museum celebrates multicultural erotic art across all media, from painting to sculpture to video—and even includes King Alfonso XIII of Spain’s pornos. Organized to provide a more edifying experience than expected, the 2000-item collection places the museum high on the City of Love’s “to-do” list. Temporary exhibits on the top three floors insuring novel excitement at each visit. Despite the scholarly nature of the museum’s contents, it is not advised to bring children here. (72 bd. de Clichy, 18ème. Blanche. ☎01 42 58 28 73; www.musee-erotisme.com. Open daily 10am-2am. €8, groups of 4 or more €6, seniors and students €5.)

Halle Saint-Pierre. Within a former 19th-century marketplace, this gallery and cultural center holds temporary exhibits of contemporary drawing, painting and sculpture. It features mostly folk and naive artists from around the world, including France, Haiti, and North America. The Halle Saint-Pierre also hosts a bookstore, community auditorium, and various art workshops for children. A quiet, ground-floor cafe enables pleasant reflection on the gallery’s collections, relatively removed from the hoards of tourists outside. Halle Saint-Pierre is also home to the Musée d’Art Naïf Max Fourny, a one-room permanent collection of international folk art. (2 rue Ronsard, 18ème. Anvers. Walk up rue Steinkerque, turn right at place St-Pierre, and left on rue Ronsard. ☎01 42 58 72 89; www.hallesaintpierre.org. Open Sept.-July daily 10am-6pm, Aug. M-F noon-6pm. Last entry at 5:30pm. Workshops for children over 6 W 2:30-6pm; reserve ahead. Wheelchair accessible. Temporary exhibits €7.50, students under 26 €6, under 4 free. Children’s workshops €8.)

Musée De Montmartre. Located in the quartier’s oldest house, the Musée de Montmartre guides visitors through the neighborhood’s history, embellishing local stories with drawings, letters, and relics. The house was built for an actor in Molière’s company, Roze de Rosimond, who, like Molière bizarrely enough, died onstage during a performance of Le Malade Imaginaire. Painters Raoul Dufy, Auguste Renoir, Maurice Utrillo, and conductor Gustave Charpentier also called the place home; the museum hosts their original work and personal relics in an upper room. On other floors, cabaret posters, journal entries, and mediocre paintings by celebrated Montmartre residents line the walls. On the topmost floor, a maquette (miniature model) displays the relatively-unchanged neighborhood as it stood in 1956. Finally, the view of the butte from the garden is not to be missed. (12 rue Cortot, 18ème. Lamarck-Caulaincourt. Turn right on rue Lamarck, right again up steep rue des Saules, then left on rue Cortot. ☎01 49 25 89 37; www.museedemontmartre.fr. Open Tu-Su 11am-6pm. Last entry 5pm. €7, students, seniors, and under 26 €5.50; includes English- or French-language audioguide. MC/V.)