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The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and often simply Sacré-Cœur, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France.
A popular landmark and the second most visited monument in Paris, the basilica stands at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city.
Sacré-Cœur Basilica is above all a religious (Catholic) building, shown by its perpetual adoration of the Holy Eucharist since 1885, and is also seen as a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and for the socialist Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular devotion since the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

The basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was completed in 1914. The basilica was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.

The basilica is accessible by bus. Buses 30, 31, 80, and 85 can be taken to the bottom of the hill of the basilica. Line 12 of the metro can be taken to Jules Joffrin station and visitors can then change to the Montmartrobus and disembark at Place du Tertre. Line 2 or 12 of the metro can be taken to Pigalle station where visitors can change to the Montmartrobus and disembark at Norvins, or to Anvers station which gives easy access to the steps or the funicular car that lead directly to the basilica. Normally the Abbesses (Paris Metro) station is a good choice as well, but the station's elevators are out of service until September 2017 and the 130-plus meter climb can be quite difficult for the infirm or elderly.

Sacré-Cœur is open from 06:00 to 22:30 every day. The dome is accessible from 09:00 to 19:00 in the summer and to 18:00 in the winter

The inspiration for Sacré-Cœur's design originated on 4 September 1870, the day of the proclamation of the Third Republic, with a speech by Bishop Fournier attributing the defeat of French troops during the Franco-Prussian War to a divine punishment after "a century of moral decline" since the French Revolution, in the wake of the division in French society that arose in the decades following that revolution, between devout Catholics and legitimist royalists on one side, and democrats, secularists, socialists, and radicals on the other. This schism in the French social order became particularly pronounced after the 1870 withdrawal of the French military garrison protecting the Vatican in Rome to the front of the Franco-Prussian War by Napoleon III, the secular uprising of the Paris Commune of 1870-1871, and the subsequent 1871 defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War.

Though today the basilica is asserted to be dedicated in honor of the 58,000 who lost their lives during the war, the decree of the Assemblée nationale 24 July 1873, responding to a request by the archbishop of Paris and voting its construction, specifies that it is to "expiate the crimes of the Commune."Montmartre had been the site of the Commune's first insurrection, and the Communards had executed Georges Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, who became a martyr for the resurgent Catholic Church. His successor Guibert, climbing the Butte Montmartre in October 1872, was reported to have had a vision as clouds dispersed over the panorama: "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."

With more than 11.5 million visitors per year, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre is the second most visited place in Paris (after the Cathedral of Notre-Dame), Paris itself being the most touristic city in the world...

More than a hundred thousand churches and shrines around the world are affiliated with the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and remain in communion of prayer with the continuous Eucharistic adoration day and night, which shines from Montmartre throughout the world.

This national and global influence is reflected in numerous architectural representations and reproductions, sometimes famous, sometimes discreet and hidden

"In the presence of the misfortunes that desolate France and the greater misfortunes that perhaps still threaten it.

In the presence of the sacrilegious attacks committed in Rome against the rights of the Church and the Holy See, and against the sacred person of the vicar of Jesus Christ.

We humiliate ourselves before God, and by uniting the Church and our country in our love, we acknowledge that we have been guilty and justly punished.

And to make amends for our sins and obtain from the infinite mercy of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ the forgiveness of our sins, as well as the extraordinary help that can only free the Supreme Pontiff from his captivity and stop the misfortunes of France, we promise to contribute to the erection, in Paris, of a sanctuary dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. »

The Works Committee in 1872 and the vote in the Assembly in 1873 pursued the idea of 1870 which had become "National Vow" and not only in Paris

Virtual visit through the website http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/francais/histoire-et-visite/article/visite-virtuelle-panoramique-de-la , or direct visit