Place du Tertre, Paris

When Baron Haussmann razed many working-class neighborhoods in central Paris, he encouraged artists to move to Montmartre. The influx of artists and country village folk began in 1880. At the foot of Montmartre cabarets thrived and an intense period of artistic activity took hold. The Place saw movements from Impressionism to Cubism to Fauvism to Surrealism come and go, right up to the eve of World War I. Greats like Renoir, Picasso, Braque, Dufy, Cezanne, Manet, and Toulouse-Lautrec painted here and, often, kept studios and living quarters in the adjacent streets. These days, despite an oppressive, constant tourist crush on the square, one can still discover that old-time Paris feeling here.