Description
The Sacré-Cœur, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, crowns the hill of Montmartre in Paris: a white church of domes, visible from all over the city, overlooking the whole city from the top of the hill. After the Eiffel Tower, it is the second most visited sight in the capital.
Its white comes from a stone that releases calcite when it rains, so it stays pale. Inside, above the choir, shines The Triumph of the Sacred Heart, a mosaic of 475 square meters with Christ in white, his arms open. Whoever climbs to the top of the dome sees the city spread out to the south.
The basilica was begun in 1875, after the defeat of 1870 and the Paris Commune, and it has divided Parisians ever since. The hill was too unstable to build on: 83 wells, each 30 meters deep, were dug and filled with stone and concrete to hold it up.
The bell tower holds the Savoyarde, the largest bell in France, which can be heard up to 10 kilometers away.
Its white comes from a stone that releases calcite when it rains, so it stays pale. Inside, above the choir, shines The Triumph of the Sacred Heart, a mosaic of 475 square meters with Christ in white, his arms open. Whoever climbs to the top of the dome sees the city spread out to the south.
The basilica was begun in 1875, after the defeat of 1870 and the Paris Commune, and it has divided Parisians ever since. The hill was too unstable to build on: 83 wells, each 30 meters deep, were dug and filled with stone and concrete to hold it up.
The bell tower holds the Savoyarde, the largest bell in France, which can be heard up to 10 kilometers away.