Belleville (commune)

Belleville (French pronunciation: [bɛlvil] ^ⓘ) was a French commune in the Seine department, lying immediately east of Paris, Île-de-France. 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. The composer and conductor Jules Pillevesse (1837–1903) was born in Belleville.