Paris

The second empire style became a reference in opera house architecture and the Opéra Garnier has become an illustration of this field.

The theatre is richly decorated.
The great staircase, of which the first ten steps form a magnificent elevator cage, lead to the main foyer which opens onto the boxes with their flowered moldings.
Both inside and out, white stone and the colored marbles with their bronze statues underline the majesty of the proportions.
Marc Chagall created new frescos in 1964.
In the center is an immense crystal chandelier weighing six tons.

The Opera is an academy of music and dance as well as a magical place infused with the passion that has promoted the lyric arts since their beginnings. Composers and choreographers of genius, great instrumentalists, singers and dancers give their best performances in a range of registers from despair to the sublime.
Thus, the most spectacular intrigues of a romantic world knot and unwind on stage, in the wings and the boxes of this mythological palace.

Tickets for ballet performances at the Opera are hard to come by.
However, if you are unable to obtain some, you must try to experience the gold and velvet ambiance of the building itself (the main entrance hall is open from 11:00 am to 4.30 pm).

he hill of Montmartre in the North of Paris rises 129 meters above sea-level.

The name signifies " mount of martyrs " because by tradition it is the place of the martydom of Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris (late 3rd century) and his companions.
Many saints have come to this hill (Saint Germain - Saint Clotilde - Saint Bernard - Saint Joan of Arc - Saint Vincent de Paul, …) and, of course, Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint François-Xavier who, with their companions, founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) here in 1534.
A big benedictine Abbey occupied the whole hill until the French Revolution at which date the nuns were guillotined and the Abbey destroyed. A village called Saint Peter's survived in this former lime quarry in the late XIXth century ; the working people were short of employment.

In 1870, war broke out between France and Germany. The Council taking place at the Vatican broke up and the Pope, no longer protected by French troops, felt himself to be a prisoner in the Vatican City. France faced military defeat and occupation of part of the country by German troops. The response of MM. Alexandre Legentil and Hubert Rohault de Fleury was spiritual. They vowed to build a church consecrated to the Heart of Christ in reparation (iin penitence for sins commited) since for them, the misery of France stemmed more from spiritual than from political causes.

Late 1872 : Cardinal Guibert, archbishop of Paris, approves this vow and chooses Montmartre.
Late 1873 : he obtains a parliamentary declaration of the public utility of the Basilica, thus enabling the land to be used to built the church

At the time, the building of a Basilica dedicated to the Heart of Christ is unusual compared with the series of Basilicas dedicated to Mary built during the same period : Lourdes, Notre-Dame of Fourviere at Lyon, Notre-Dame of la Garde at Marseille.

The architecture / The construction
The architect is Paul ABADIE, but six architects succeeded him before the building was completed.

· The style is Romano-byzantine,
that is to say in contrast with the gothic style of medieval churches such as Notre Dame of Paris (1163-1240)

- The style was inspired by models such as Saint Sophia at Constantinople, Saint Mark's at Venice or Ravenna.

In 1854, with the confluence of lately traced boulevards, Haussmann arranged immense Place of the Republic, equipped into 1883 with a Monument with the Republic, by Moricet.