The Sacre-Coeur Basilica ( The Basilica of the Scared Heart) sits atop the Montmarte - the highest point of the city. It is a Roman Catholic church built as a national penance for the excesses of the Second Empire and the socialist Paris Commune of 1871. It is the embodiment of a new moral order dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Jesus Christ.
Following the French Revolution, French society was deeply divided into two - the devout Catholics and the Royalists on one side and the democrats, secularists, socialists and radicals on the other. The weakened and deeply divided society probably caused France to lose the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. In 1871 the uprising of the French Commune was started from Montmarte and many lives from both sides were lost as a result. The Royal Army of Versailles killed many communards by detonating explosives in subterranean gypsum mines where they had retreated into. And the communards had also executed many of the Royalists including the Archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy.
His succesor, Guibert, on climbing Montmarte in October 1872, saw a vision in the clouds saying "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 1873, when the 3rd Republic was established proclaiming itself as 'The Government of Moral Order' -which linked Catholic institutions with secular ones in a project of religious and national renewal. Sacre-Coeur is the monument to commemorate this achievement.
the last lane up before reaching the base of the Montmarte
being one of the main tourist sites of Paris - it was naturally crowded
half-way up to the Basilica
panoramic view of Paris from atop Montmarte
took the funicular train down instead of walking
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