At the outbreak of the Franco Prussian War in 1870, two Catholic businessmen made a private religious vow. It was to build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ should France be spared the impending Prussian onslaught. The two men, Alexandre Legentil and Rohault de Fleury, lived to see Paris saved from invasion despite the war and a lenghy siege - and the start of what is the Sacre-Coeur basilica. The project was taken up by Archbishop Guilbert of Paris. Work began in 1875 to Paul Abadie's designs. They were inspired by the Romano-Bryzantine church of St-Front in Perigueux. The basilica was completed in 1914, but the German invasion forestalled its consecration until 1919, when France was victorious.
Me again, standing in front of Sacre-Coeur. The Ovoid Dome is the second highest point in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower. The inner structure supporting the dome is made from stone.
This Equestrian Statues is of Joan of Arc. Made by H. Lefebure. The other statue not pictured is of Saint Louis.
Inside is a colossal Byzantine mosaic of Christ (1912-22) dominating the chancel vault. It is by Luc Olivier Merson.
This is a picture of the bell tower taken when I was in the dome. The bell tower is 252 feet high and contains one of the heaviest bells in the world. The bell itself weighs 18.5 tons and the clapper is 1900 lbs. Wow!
A view from the dome. This is the front of Sacre-Coeur. Beautiful!
Another view from the dome. I actually zoomed a bit to get a great shot of the Eiffel Tower.
Later I headed down into the crypt vaults. This crypt goes in a circle. The middle of the circle in the crypt has a chapel.
In that chapel is this, an urn that contains Legentil's heart in a stone urn. 
1 comment:
WOW is right! That place is so pretty!! And the heart in the urn...um...
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