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Lunchtime Photo

This is the Basilica of Sacré Coeur, overlooking Paris from 400 feet above the city on the hill of Montmarte. It amuses me that it was built as something of a middle finger from rich Catholics as payback for the imprisonment of the pope following the Franco-Prussian war. As it happens, the pope wasn't really imprisoned and, in any case, the French had nothing to do with it. But I guess that didn't really matter. The Catholic church had been getting the raw end of the stick in France ever since the French Revolution, and Paris's Catholic community was eager to show that they could afford to build a huge new basilica while France itself was more-or-less bankrupt following the war.

The top photo is Sacré Coeur. The bottom photo is a view of Paris from Montmarte.

May 30, 2022 — Paris, France

8 thoughts on “Lunchtime Photo

  1. cld

    Isn't there something about that building that strongly suggests it's yesterday's news?

    I think it would have seemed that way when it was new.

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  2. Eastvillager

    Paris may have been poor, but the tourists from America and Russia were on their way. They arrived in force 1870 to 1914. Paul Durant-Ruel realized he could sell all the Parisian art controversy to these rubes (he even opened a gallery in New York City) and he made the Impressionists' fortune:
    https://en.citaliarestauro.com/paul-durant-ruel/
    A lot of the showiness of the Belle Epoque was selling to, and fleecing, new money.

  3. Keith B

    The inside of Sacré Coeur is interesting, too. Also, if you enjoy steps, the approach will suit you quite well. I liked Notre Dame better, though (this was before the fire).

  4. bhommad

    Where did you get this history? Sacre-Coeur was built as a middle finger to French leftists and free-thinkers and as "expiation" for the sins of the Paris Commune, which were basically the sins of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Its funding was pushed by morally corrupt bishops over many years against the resistance of the residents of Montmartre and all true French republicans. Sacre-Coeur is basically a turd dropped on Montmartre and the memory of the Commune by vicious wing-nuts. Admiring it out loud is akin to proclaiming that Dreyfus was guilty and that the true heart of France is Vichy.

  5. Dana Decker

    That picture of Paris clearly shows that it's a NIMBY city. How unfortunate. As millennials and progressives constantly remind us, we should support YIMBY everywhere on the planet. Issue building permits for 10-story apartment buildings in the City of Light. And even taller for business. Who cares about low-density and low-stress living? All that matters is affordable small-sized condos and no more self-indulgent use of automobiles. Bicycles, scooters, or the Metro is all you ever need.

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