Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Paris - interesting facts, tickets, sightseeing

The Sacre-Coeur Basilica can be seen from almost anywhere in Paris. A beautiful, snow-white building towers over the city and attracts attention. It would never have been created if it had not been for a massive artillery bombardment ... but let's start from the beginning.

Pride

The XNUMXth century race for domination in Europe between France and Prussia could not end well. Napoleon III's oversized ambitions, coupled with detachment from reality and the belief that the French army is invincible, led to the war.
On August 2, 1870, French troops crossed the border of Prussia and fired at the town of Saarbrücken. The Franco-Prussian war has begun.
It quickly turned out that the French army was not invincible at all, and a month and a half after the start of the war, the Prussians were already near Paris. The siege of the city began on September 19, 1870. Paris fought hard. After almost five months of an unsuccessful siege, the prime minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, made a decision to start a heavy artillery bombardment of the city.

Oath

In these circumstances, when the townspeople were drowning in fear and fear, the two French industrialists swore that if they saw Paris after the war as it was before the war, they would build a cathedral in honor of the Heart of Jesus.
Eventually, Paris capitulated. The damage turned out to be small (mainly due to the insufficient range of the artillery). The city was almost untouched.
French industrialists kept their promise and in 1914 the beautiful Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica was erected on the top of Montmartre Hill.

Cathedral

Sacre-Coeur is often called the white basilica. It is due to the travertine covering its walls, which when exposed to weather conditions is subject to processes that make it take on a white color.
From the terrace in front of the cathedral, or even better from the cathedral dome, you can enjoy the most beautiful panoramic views of Paris. This is where the most beautiful panoramic photos of the French capital are made. However, the entrance to the dome is payable.

The only difficulty in visiting the cathedral is that it lies on a hill. So you first have to overcome a considerable hill and many of you will sink into it. Going from the Anvers metro station, you choose the most beautiful path, because it leads through the tree-lined Louise Michel square with fountains (often there are picturesque, stylized as old children's merry-go-rounds).
There will be 222 stairs to climb ... I admit that I did not count the stairs along the way, but there are a lot of them.

If you don't have the strength to climb the stairs, you can use the cable car (cable car = Funiculaire). The lower station of the cable car is nearby, to the left (facing the cathedral) from the entrance to the Louise Michel square (do not enter the square, go left along the fence and at the end of the fence, there will be a station on the right corner).
If there was a problem with finding it, the GPS coordinates of the lower station can be found below.

Opening hours and tickets

The entrances to the basilica and the dome are independent of each other. There are also different opening hours and entry rules.

Basilica

The basilica is open daily from 6.30 am to 22.30 pm.
Entry is free and no reservation is needed.

The dome of the basilica

The entrance to the dome is outside the basilica on the left side. There are 300 stairs leading to the dome and this is the only way to get up. There is no elevator.

Opening hours:
- from March to September: 10:00 - 19:00 (in summer it is often open until 20:30)
- October to February: 10:00 - 17:30

Tickets:
The basic admission ticket to the dome costs EUR 6 (price from 2022).

side Sacre-Coeur basilica - [click]

Useful data

Sacre-Coeur Basilica, GPS coordinates:
48°53’10.5″N 2°20’35.2″E
48.886240, 2.343106 - click and route

Sacre-Coeur Basilica, nearest metro station, GPS coordinates:
Anvers - line No.2

Cable car to Sacre Coeur, GPS coordinates:
48°53’04.6″N 2°20’33.7″E
48.884623, 2.342688 - click and route

Paris sightseeing itinerary

This post is part of a very detailed itinerary for Paris that I have developed. The plan is available for free and you can see it on the website: Paris sightseeing plan - map, tickets, attractions, monuments, accommodation, interesting facts

Accommodation in Paris

Below are links to some interesting accommodation in Paris. I tried to make them attractive in terms of price (for Paris) and to be as close as possible to the Sacre-Coeur basilica.
The link has been prepared so that clicking on the proposed accommodation will take you to the details of the accommodation, but will also allow you to see other, similar offers. Therefore, it is worth treating the hotels I have selected as a starting point for my own research. Hotels often make temporary price cuts. So it is possible that by clicking on one of my offers, you will immediately find another, better-priced offer. It's worth clicking and looking.

Odalys City Paris Montmartre - [click]

Hotel de Flore - [click]

Le Village Montmartre by Hiphophostels - [click]

Important to me!

Give the article a good rating (5 stars welcome 😀)!
It's free, a for me it is very important! The blog lives on visits and thus has a chance to develop. Please do it and ... thank you in advance!

If you like my guides, you will certainly find the one I created useful guide catalog - [click]. There you will find ready-made ideas for your next trips, descriptions of other tourist destinations and an alphabetical list of guides divided into countries, cities, islands and geographical regions.

I also post link to Facebook profile - [click]. Come in and press "Follow"then you will not miss new, inspiring posts.

Unless you prefer Instagram. I'm not a social media demon, but you can always count on something nice to look at on my instagram profile - [click]. The profile will gladly accept any follower who likes it.

I make the content I create available free of charge with copyright, and the blog survives from advertising and affiliate cooperation. So, automatic ads will be displayed in the content of the articles, and some links are affiliate links. This has no effect on the final price of the service or product, but I may earn a commission for displaying ads or following certain links. I only recommend services and products that I find good and helpful. Since the beginning of the blog's existence, I have not published any sponsored article.

Some of the readers who found the information here very helpful, sometimes ask me how you can support the blog? I do not run fundraisers or support programs (type: patronite, zrzutka or "buy coffee"). The best way is to use links. It costs you nothing, and support for the blog is self-generating.

Pozdrawiam