Sacré-Coeur

The Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) is one of the great Paris landmarks, its domes gleaming high above the city on the Butte Montmartre.

After France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the repression of the Commune (1871) the Catholics of France vowed to erect a church on the hill of Montmartre as a symbol of contrition and hope.

The National Assembly approved the proposal in 1873 and work began under the direction of the architect Paul Abadie in 1876. Because of the porous sandstone on which it was built, however, construction was difficult and protracted, and the church was completed only in 1911 and dedicated in 1919.

The Romanesque/Byzantine style of the church, often dismissed as "wedding-cake" architecture, was modeled on the church of Saint-Front in Périgueux. The interior, which seems heavy and over-ornate, is notable for its size (100m/330ft long, 50m/165ft wide). In the choir is a large mosaic of Christ with a flaming heart, flanked by the Archangel Michael and Joan of Arc on the right and Louis XVI and his family on the left.

From the top of the tower (to the left of the main entrance; admission charge) there are superb panoramic views of Paris. From the broad flight of steps in front of the church, thronged in summer with young people and street entertainers, there is one of the finest prospects in Paris, with views, in clear weather, of Notre-Dame straight ahead, with the Centre Pompidou in front of it, to the right the Opéra-Garnier and beyond this the Dôme des Invalides.