Travel By Photos to Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris

These are some photos I took around the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris. For those who haven’t been there, I hope I could bring along you guys to travel to this travel destination by photos, before flying there. You can view all my Travel by Photos series of post by clicking here.

One of my Top 5 Travel Attentions in Paris, Sacré-Cœur Basilica (which means Sacred Heart of Jesus in English) is a Roman Catholic church that located at the highest point of Paris, on top of the Montmartre hill in Montmartre district of 18th Arrondissement of Northern Paris. Its construction took almost 40 years and was finally fully completed in 1914. If you travel to Paris by train, Montmartre district is like 10 minutes away from the Gard Du Nord main train station of Paris.

One of the unique feature that made Sacred Coeur so attractive for tourism, apart from its high location, is its all white colour. Sacré-Cœur Basilica was constrcuted using travertine stone quarried in Château-Landon (Seine-et-Marne), France. These stone constantly exude calcite and that’s why the basilica is remained white even with weathering and pollution. And this is how Sacré Cœur gets its nickname of ‘The White Church‘.

Follow the Bd de Magenta road from Gard Du Nord station to Bd de Clichy and walk further you will come to the Anvers Metro station. Right in front of the metro station, you will see a small motor road that lead you up to the butte Montmartre. It’s well indicated with signboard and you will passed by a row of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops, and as well as the crowds.

Once you reach to the top of the road, Sacré Cœur Basilica is right in front of you! It opens from 6AM until 11PM. Though most shops close at 9PM.

Especially under bright sunlight, this church is really shinning! However yo need to climb up hundreds of steps to reach to the church.

Another prominent feature of this travel destination is what I realised when reaching to the top of Montmartre Hill. Apart from live street performance at the courtyard, visitors can site on the stairs overseeing the magnificent view of Paris city skyline, covering South Eastern to South Western areas of the city. Eiffel Tower is just off to the right.

Let’s go into the church to explore its architecture features…

An over-processed image of the entrance gate of Sacré Cœur Basilica which is double the height of an adult.

Another view at the ceiling when you look up.

I love the entrance verandah with brilliant domed ceiling and columns designed by Architect Paul Abadie, which are good interpretation of Romano-Byzantine features, an unusual architectural vocabulary at the time. Visitors were not allowed to take photos and make any noise inside the church. We still entered to take a walk round inside the church. Serenity is the only word I could describe my feeling at that moment. 🙂

Evening sun turns Sacré Cœur Basilica into creamy colour which is gorgeous looking! Local French people as well as tourists gather here to relax and waiting for sunset.

We didn’t stay up til dusk and proceeded to another travel attraction of Paris, The Eiffel Tower, for some night shots. But we did come back to take some night photos of the Sacré Cœur Basilica. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any cafe around that open til late at night for a cup of coffee. 🙁

Click HERE to view the above photos in full resolution via  Flickr Lightbox.

What’s my verdict?

• Attractiveness: Good √ √ √ √
• Features to explore: Good √ √ √ √
• Photo Opportunity: Good √ √ √ √
• Accessability: Good √ √ √ √
  
• Affordability: Free Entrance √ √ √ √ √

• Overall Travel Score : 84%

• Verdict: The white stone architecture ensure attractive scene for photo taking. Ability to oversee the breathtaking view of Paris city skyline is another attraction. Reaching there is fairly easy by either bus or Metro with walking distance from Gard Du Nord station. Entrance to the church is free but can’t take photos which is normal for basilica. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.