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Sacre-Coeur

At the outbreak of the Franco Prussian War 1870, two Catholic businessmen made a private religious vow. It was to build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ should France be spared the impending Prussian onslaught.

The two men, Alexandre Legintil and hubert Rohault de Fleury, lived to see Paris saved from invasion despite the war and lenghty siege, and the start of what is the Sacre-Coeur basilica

Work began 1875

The basilica was completed in 1914, but the German invasion forestalled its consecration until 1919

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Uploaded on September 25, 2007
Taken on September 25, 2007