Description
Sacré-Coeur (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart)
Situated at the very top of the Montmartre Hill the Sacre Coeur was built from contributions taken from Parisian Catholics as an act of contrition after the humiliating Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
The project was taken up by Archbishop Guilbert of Paris and designed by Paul Abadie.
Construction began in 1874, and was finished in 1914, but the German invasion prevented its consecration until 1919, when France was victorious.
The Sacré Coeur in figures:
- Ovoid Dome is the second-highest point in Paris after the Eiffel Tower.
- The bell tower is 83 meters high and contains one of the heaviest bells in the world.
- The bell itself weighs 18.5 tons and the clapper 850 kg.
Opening hours:
Basilica 06.30 - 23.00 daily.
Dome and crypt 09.00 - 19.00 daily.
Metro:
Abbesses. line 12
Anvers. line 2
Chateau Rouge line 4