Trips To Paris

On the highest point of Paris stands a beautiful Roman Catholic basilica, known as Sacre-Coeur, or the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

For the project of the Basilica there was a contest organized in which took par nearly 80 architects. The one who won the competition was Paul Abadie. For the location of the new church there was a law issued of public utility, according to which the land was seized for the construction. The laying of the first stone of the foundation was delayed due to property assembling issues until the 16^th of June 1875. Five years later the issue was still raising passionate debates in the Municipal Council over the law which granted property rights in 1873. The matter was considered a true threat of a civil war and in 1882 it was discussed in the Chamber of Deputies. The two important figures arguing for the construction of the Basilica war Archbishop Guibert and Georges Clemenceau. Although the law was annulled, due to a technical detail, the building of the Basilica remained valid. In 1897, by the time the Basilica had been already holding services for 6 years, there was another attempt of stopping the construction from going any further. Luckily, the attempt was defeated and the church was finished.

The architectural style was considered innovative at the time, as it interpreted freely the characteristics of the Romano – Byzantine style. It was considered rather unusual for the time, when the neo-Baroque style was preferred, as seen in the Opera Garnier. Nationalist themes are to be found in the decorations of the Basilica. Two national saints, Jean ‘Arc and Saint Louis IX, king of France, are represented in equestrian statues on the three arched portico. Both bronze statues were the work of Hippolyte Lefebvre. Executed in Annecy in 1895, the Savoyarde bell weighing nineteen tons was the heaviest in the world at that time and reminds of the 1860 annexation of Savoy.

Following the passing away of Paul Abadie in 1884, soon after the lay of the foundation, other five architects took over the project of the Basilica. The five names to continue Abadie’s work are Honore Daumet, Jean-Charles Laisne, Henri-Pierre Rauline, Lucien Magne and Jean-Louis Hulot. It was only in 1914 that the Basilica was finished, just when the World War I was starting.