Sacre Coeur

I have 22 pages of papers to write and about 1 million journal entries and a presentation that I need to do in the next couple of weeks. And that is why I am blogging.

We visited Montmartre and Sacre Coeur today and it was wonderful! Sacre Coeur is such a beautiful building. Our walks book didn't tell us much about its history, so I didn't think that there really was much to it. But with it being built on a place called the "Mount of Martyrs," I became a little curious. After a little research, I learned that Saint Denis was martyred here in the 3rd century. He supposedly was beheaded, then picked up his head and walked to the bottom of the hill before he died. Hence why his head is in his hands and not on his shoulders in the statue. It was then that this hill was named Montmartre. It continued to live up to its name during the French Revolution when all the nuns at the basilica on the top of the hill were guillotined for their beliefs. Then in 1871, the archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, was martyred in this same place. It was after that martyrdom that the Catholic Church decided that they needed to build a basilica for the "Heart of Christ" or "Sacred Heart."
There is obviously more to it than that, but I feel like I'm giving a history lesson now. This really taught me how important it is to learn about all of these places that I am visiting. The information isn't always going to be spoon fed to me, and it sometimes takes some researching, but it is absolutely fascinating to me! These streets are brimming with history and I'm so lucky to be here and to be able to learn about it on site!

Awesome view from the top of Montmartre.

Moulin Rouge. Patterson said we aren't supposed to be in this area...but our walks book led us here without us even knowing. Not our fault!