Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Stroll along Paris' highest hilltop (420 feet) for a different perspective on the City of Light.
Walk in the footsteps of the people who've lived here—monks stomping grapes (1200s),
farmers grinding grain in windmills (1600s), dust-coated gypsum miners (1700s), Parisian
liberals (1800s), Modernist painters (1900s), and all the struggling artists, poets, dreamers,
and drunkards who came here for cheap rent, untaxed booze, rustic landscapes, and cabaret
nightlife. With vineyards, wheat fields, windmills, animals, and a village tempo of life, it
was the perfect escape from grimy Paris.
The Sacré-Cœur (Sacred Heart) Basilica's exterior, with its onion domes and bleached-bone
pallor,looksancient,butwasfinishedonlyacenturyagobyParisianshumiliatedbyGerman
invaders. Otto von Bismarck's Prussian army laid siege to Paris for more than four months
in 1870. Things got so bad for residents that urban hunting for dinner (to cook up dogs,
cats, and finally rats) became accepted behavior. Convinced they were being punished for
the country's liberal sins, France's Catholics raised money to build the church as a “praise
the Lord anyway” gesture.
The five-domed, Roman-Byzantine-looking basilica took 44 years to build (1875-1919).
It stands on a foundation of 83 pillars sunk 130 feet deep, necessary because the ground
beneath was honeycombed with gypsum mines. The exterior is laced with gypsum, which
whitens with age.
Takeaclockwisespinaroundthecrowdedinteriortoseeimpressivemosaics,andtogive
St. Peter's bronze foot a rub. For an unobstructed panoramic view of Paris, climb 260 feet
(300 steps) up the tight and claustrophobic spiral stairs to the top of the dome (especially
worthwhile if you have kids with excess energy).
Cost and Hours:
Church—free, daily 6:00-22:30, last entry at 22:15; dome—€6, not
covered by Museum Pass, daily May-Sept 9:00-19:00, Oct-April 9:00-17:00; tel. 01 53 41
89 00,
www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com
.
Getting There:
You have several options. You can take the Métro to the Anvers stop (to
avoid the stairs up to Sacré-Cœur, buy one more Métro ticket and ride the funicular, though
it's sometimes closed for maintenance). The Abbesses stop is closer but less scenic. Or you
can go to Place Pigalle, then take the tiny electric Montmartrobus, which drops you right by
Place du Tertre, near Sacré-Cœur (costs one Métro ticket, 4/hour). A taxi to the top of the
hill saves time and avoids sweat (about €13, €20 at night).
Montmartre'smainsquare
(PlaceduTertre),
oneblockfromthechurch,wasoncethehaunt
of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the original bohemians. Today, it's mobbed with tourists
