Sacré-Cœur Basilica

사크레쾨르 대성당

Paul Abadie's Romano-Byzantine basilica on the summit of Montmartre (1875–1914), built of self-whitening travertine, with an 83 m egg-shaped dome, four smaller domes and a campanile.

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At a glance

Country: France
Location: Paris, France
Built: 1914
Height: 83 m
Type: Religious building

Quick answers

Where is Sacré-Cœur Basilica?

Sacré-Cœur Basilica is in Paris, France.

When was Sacré-Cœur Basilica built?

Sacré-Cœur Basilica was built in 1914.

How tall is Sacré-Cœur Basilica?

Sacré-Cœur Basilica is about 83 m tall.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, called Sacré-Cœur, is a white-domed church on top of the hill of Montmartre in Paris, France. It is a Catholic church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From its dome, about 200 metres above the Seine, you can see over the whole city. After the Eiffel Tower, it is the second most popular tourist spot in Paris.

The architect Paul Abadie designed it in a neo-Byzantine and Romanesque style, and his plan was chosen from 77 proposals. Construction began in 1875 and went on for forty years under five different architects. It was completed in 1914, and the basilica was formally consecrated in 1919 after World War I. It was officially named a historic monument on 8 December 2022.

Why was it built?

Bishop Félix Fournier proposed the church in 1870 after France lost the Franco-Prussian War. He blamed the defeat on a moral decline and wanted a church to ask for forgiveness. The hilltop site overlooks where the Paris Commune uprising took place in 1871, so some people on the French left have seen it as a symbol of that revolt's violent defeat, and it has stayed controversial.

Built on shaky ground

Montmartre was chosen for its height and for its link to Saint Denis, the patron saint of Paris. The ground was unstable, so builders dug eighty-three wells, each thirty metres deep, and filled them with rock and concrete to serve as underground pillars. The money, about seven million francs, came entirely from private donors, and it was spent before anything showed above ground.

A temporary chapel was consecrated in 1876. When Abadie died in 1884, other architects took over and changed the plans.

Why is the stone so white?

The basilica is built from a hard, fine-grained travertine limestone from Souppes-sur-Loing. When rain hits it, the stone gives off calcite, which keeps it bright white even in a city with so much weather and grime. The egg-shaped main dome is 83 metres tall, and the bell tower holds the Savoyarde, the largest bell in France, which weighs about nineteen tons.