Page 28 - ENSTA | Handbook 2024

VISITER PARIS

THE SACRED HEART BASILICA THE NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL

Located at the top of the Montmartre hill Listed as a World Heritage site, it is one
on one of the highest hills in Paris, the of the most remarkable masterpieces of
Sacré-Coeur basilica dominates Paris with Gothic architecture. It has many stained-
its white dome. It offers one of the most glass windows and rose windows, two of
beautiful views of Paris. This church in which measuring 13 metres in diameter, are
the shape of a Greek cross, as well as its among the largest in Europe. It was built
crypt, is of Romanesque-Byzantine style. in the Middle Ages, spanning over nearly
It was built between 1875 and 1923 by two centuries, from the 13th to the 14th,
the architect Paul Abadie, after the Paris and was restored in the 19th century after
Commune. The ceiling is decorated with the French Revolution by the architect
the largest mosaic in France, measuring Viollet-Le-Duc. Its gargoyles, its spire, its
nearly 480 m2. It also has the largest bell towers, its bells, inspired one of the most
in France, weighing 19 tons, dragged from famous novels by Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame
Annecy (Haute-Savoie) to the Sacré-Coeur. de Paris. Located in the historic centre
of Paris at the end of the Ile de la Cité, it
On the hillock below the basilica, you will is symbolically the heart of Paris and all
find the Place du Tertre and its painters, French road distances are measured from
the Abbesses district, with its many small its square. Known throughout the world for
steep streets, and at the foot the famous five centuries, on some days it welcomes
Moulin Rouge. 50,000 visitors.
On 15 April 2019, a violent fire destroyed
the spire and the entire roof covering nave,
choir and transept. This was the most
important fire suffered by the cathedral
since its construction. Notre Dame has
been, since then, closed to the public but
will reopen at the end of 2024.

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