The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and
often simply Sacré-Cœur, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France.
A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the
highest point in the city.
Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for
the defeat of France in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War and the socialist Paris Commune of 1871
crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order,
publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision
of a loving and sympathetic Christ.
The Sacré-Cœur Basilica was designed by Paul Abadie.
Construction began in 1875 and was finished in 1914.
It was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.
Basilique of the Sacré Cœur
The inspiration for Sacré Cœur's design originated on September 4, 1870, the day of
the proclamation of the Third Republic, with a speech by Bishop Fournier attributing the
defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to a divine punishment after "a century
of moral decline" since the French Revolution, in the wake of the division in French society
that arose in the decades following that revolution, between devout Catholics and legitimist royalists
on one side, and democrats, secularists, socialists and radicals on the other.
This schism became particularly pronounced after the Franco-Prussian War and the ensuing
uprising of the Paris Commune of 1870-71.
Though today the Basilica is asserted to be dedicated in honor of the 58,000 who lost
their lives during the war, the decree of the Assemblée nationale, 24 July 1873, responding
to a request by the archbishop of Paris by voting its construction, specifies that it
is to "expiate the crimes of the Commune".
Montmartre had been the site of the Commune's first insurrection, and the Communards had
executed Georges Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, who became a martyr for the resurgent Catholic
Church.
His successor Guibert, climbing the Butte Montmartre in October 1872, was reported to
have had a vision, as clouds dispersed over the panorama: "It is here, it is here where
the martyrs are, it is here that the Sacred Heart must reign so that it can beckon all
to come".
In the moment of inertia following the resignation of the government of Adolphe Thiers, 24 May
1873, François Pie, bishop of Poitiers, expressed the national yearning for spiritual renewal—
"the hour of the Church has come"— that would be expressed through the "Government
of Moral Order" of the Third Republic, which linked Catholic institutions with secular
ones, in "a project of religious and national renewal, the main features of which were the
restoration of monarchy and the defense of Rome within a cultural framework of official
piety", of which Sacré-Cœur is the chief lasting triumphalist monument.
The decree voting its construction as a "matter of public utility", 24 July, followed close
on Thiers' resignation.
The project was expressed by the Church as a National Vow and financial support came
from parishes throughout France.
The dedicatory inscription records the Basilica as the accomplishment of a vow by Alexandre
Legentil and Hubert Rohault de Fleury, ratified by Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert, Archbishop of
Paris.
The project took many years to complete.
Construction A law of public utility was passed to seize
land at the summit of Montmartre for the construction of the basilica.
Architect Paul Abadie designed the basilica after winning a competition over 77 other
architects.
With delays in assembling the property, the foundation stone was finally laid 16 June
1875.
Passionate debates concerning the Basilica were raised in the Conseil Municipal in 1880,
where the Basilica was called "an incessant provocation to civil war" and it was debated
whether to rescind the law of 1873 granting property rights, an impracticable proposition.
The matter reached the Chamber of Deputies in the summer of 1882, in which the Basilica
was defended by Archbishop Guibert while Georges Clemenceau argued that it sought to stigmatise
the Revolution.
The law was rescinded, but the Basilica was saved by a technicality and the bill was not
reintroduced in the next session.
A further attempt to halt the construction was defeated in 1897, by which time the interior
was substantially complete and had been open for services for six years.
The overall style of the structure shows a free interpretation of Romano-Byzantine features,
an unusual architectural vocabulary at the time, which was a conscious reaction against
the neo-Baroque excesses of the Palais Garnier, which was cited in the competition.
Many design elements of the basilica symbolise nationalist themes: the portico, with its
three arches, is adorned by two equestrian statues of French national saints Joan of
Arc and King Saint Louis IX, both executed in bronze by Hippolyte Lefebvre; and the nineteen-ton
Savoyarde bell, cast in 1895 in Annecy, alludes to the annexation of Savoy in 1860.
Abadie died not long after the foundation had been laid, in 1884, and five architects
continued with the work: Honoré Daumet, Jean-Charles Laisné, Henri-Pierre-Marie Rauline, Lucien
Magne, and Jean-Louis Hulot.
The Basilica was not completed until 1914, when war intervened; the basilica was formally
dedicated in 1919, after World War I, when its national symbolism had shifted
Construction costs, estimated at 7 million French francs and drawn entirely from private
donations, were expended before any above-ground visible structure was to be seen.
A provisional chapel was consecrated 3 March 1876, and pilgrimage donations quickly became
the mainstay of funding.
Donations were encouraged by the expedient of permitting donors to "purchase" individual
columns or other features as small as a brick.
It was declared by the National Assembly that the state had the ultimate responsibility
for funding.
Muted echoes of the Basilica's "tortured history" are still heard, geographer David Harvey has
noted.
In February 1971 demonstrators pursued by the police took refuge in the Basilica and
called upon their radical comrades to join them in occupying a church "built upon the
bodies of communards in order to efface that red flag that had for too long floated over
Paris" as their leaflets expressed it.
The Basilica
Sacré-Cœur is built of travertine stone quarried in Château-Landon, France.
This stone constantly exudes calcite, which ensures that the basilica remains white even
with weathering and pollution.
A mosaic in the apse, entitled Christ in Majesty, created by Luc-Olivier Merson, is among the
largest in the world.
The basilica complex includes a garden for meditation, with a fountain.
The top of the dome is open to tourists and affords a spectacular panoramic view of the
city of Paris, which is mostly to the south of the basilica.
The use of cameras and video recorders is forbidden inside the Basilica.
The organ The basilica is home to a large and very fine
pipe organ built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll for a private home in Biarritz, composed of
109 ranks and 78 speaking stops spread across four 61-note manuals and the 32-note pedalboard,
spread across three expressive divisions; the organ was ahead of its time, containing
multiple expressive divisions and giving the performer considerable advantages over other
even larger instruments of the day.
It was almost identical to the instrument in Sheffield's Albert Hall, destroyed by fire
in 1937.
However, when installed in Paris in 1905 by Cavaillé-Coll's successor and son-in-law,
Charles Mutin, it lost its fine case for a much plainer one.
Role in Catholicism In response to requests from French bishops,
Pope Pius IX promulgated the feast of the Sacred Heart in 1856.
The basilica itself was consecrated on 16 October 1919.
Since 1885, the Blessed Sacrament has been continually on display in a monstrance above
the high altar.
Perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has continued uninterrupted in the Basilica
since 1885.
Because of this, tourists and others are asked to dress appropriately when visiting the basilica
and to observe silence as much as possible, so as not to disturb persons who have come
from around the world to pray in this place of pilgrimage.
Access The Basilica is accessible by bus.
Buses 30, 31, 80, and 85 can be taken to the bottom of the hill of the Basilica.
Line 12 of the metro can be taken to Jules Joffrin station and visitors can then change
to the Montmartrobus and disembark at Place du Tertre.
Line 2 or 12 of the metro can be taken to Pigalle station where visitors can change
to the Montmartrobus and disembark at Norvins, or to Anvers station which gives easy access
to the steps or the funicular car that lead directly to the Basilica.
Sacré-Cœur is open from 06:00 to 22:30 every day.
The dome is accessible from 09:00 to 19:00 in the summer and 18:00 in the winter.
Notes
External links
Official site of Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris
Northwestern University Library: Briefings, Fall 2005: Scott Krafft, "Sacré Coeur on
Montmartre" Official site of Montmartre
Panoramic view Virtual tour 360 degrees in fullscreen
Photo from a terrace in Paris le sacré coeur
Further reading Jacques Benoist, Le Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre
de 1870 a nos Jours 1992.
A cultural history from the point of view of a former chaplain.
Yvan Crist, "Sacré-Coeur" in Larousse Dictionnaire de Paris 1964.
David Harvey.
Consciousness and the Urban Experience: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization.
1985.
David Harvey."The building of the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur", coda to Paris, Capital of
Modernity Harvey made use of Hubert Rohault de Fleury.
Historique de la Basilique du Sacré Coeur, the official history of the building of the
Basilica, in four volumes, printed, but not published.
Raymond A. Jonas.
“Sacred Tourism and Secular Pilgrimage: and the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur”.
in Montmartre and the Making of Mass Culture.
Gabriel P. Weisberg, editor.
2001.