The most visible church in Paris, the Sacre Coeur Basilica that stands above Montmartre, has now been designated a “historic monument,” no doubt to the surprise of many who assumed it already was.
The new designation, given to “a building or space which has been classified or registered in order to protect it, because of its historical or artistic interest,” was turned down last year on the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune. The church’s history, from its building in the late 19th-century, has been tied in with anti-republican and especially anti-Commune sentiment, and many have seen it as a right-wing symbol.
One city Councillor, supporting the designation, said that it goes beyond history: “It is not a question of forgetting the Paris Commune… It is a question of recognizing the heritage character of the building.”
Still, that won’t satisfy the other opposition group to the designation; there have long been groups that mock it as ugly and an “Alabaster wedding cake.”
Photo: PHeymont/TravelGumbo
