Passage des Abbesses, thoroughfare in Paris, France
The passage des Abbesses is a 99-metre-long, 4-metre-wide passageway in the 18th arrondissement. It begins with a porch opening onto rue des Abbesses, continues through a courtyard, turns a corner and ends in a steeply sloping stretch that reaches rue des Trois-Frères by a staircase linked to the jardin des Abbesses.
The passage des Abbesses is an old path of the former commune of Montmartre, opened in 1840 as the passage de l'Arcade, named after the rue de l'Arcade that continued it north (today rue Androuet) and led to the old abbey. It took its current name on 10 November 1873, from the neighbouring rue des Abbesses. The name refers to the abbesses of the Montmartre abbey founded by Louis le Gros in 1134.
The name comes from the abbesses of the Montmartre abbey founded by Louis le Gros in 1134. The passage was called passage de l'Arcade until 1873, when it took the name of the rue des Abbesses it opens onto. It begins with a porch on that street and ends at a stairway down to the jardin des Abbesses.
The passage starts under a porch at 22 rue des Abbesses, opens into a courtyard, turns a corner and ends with a steep ramp and a staircase down to 57 rue des Trois-Frères, where it meets the jardin des Abbesses. The slope and steps make the last stretch uneven underfoot.
An architect named Xavier Schoellkopf lived at number 8 of the passage and died there in the early 1900s. The steeply sloped terrain with its steps and ramps creates an unexpected maze-like quality in this busy neighborhood.
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