{"id":841,"date":"2007-06-18T08:05:25","date_gmt":"2007-06-17T22:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/?p=841"},"modified":"2007-06-18T22:48:44","modified_gmt":"2007-06-18T12:48:44","slug":"paris-sacre-coeur-gargoyles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/?p=841","title":{"rendered":"Paris &#8211; Sacre Coeur gargoyles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most people looking for Gargoyles in Paris go straight to the Notre Dame cathedral where they will find the same gargoyles that are on every postcard. Perhaps it is reassuring that you can actually see the ones in the postcards. But if you head up to the top of the Montmartre butte &#8211; in one of Paris&#8217; most fascinating quarters, you will find the basilica of Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart). This church was built in 1875 to commemorate the the defeat of the Paris Commune in 1871 (those who refused to acknowledge that Paris had been given up to the Prussians.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image831\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/sacrecoeur2.jpg\" alt=\"Paris Sacre Coeur\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Its domed roofs dominate Paris from its elevated position. And to reward you for climbing the steep streets and stairways you are greeted by a magnificent building with wonderful stained glass, amazing acoustics for the choir and of course gothic gargoyles.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image835\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/gar1.jpg\" alt=\"gargoyle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Gargoyles once served the very practical purpose of funneling water from the roof when it rains and directing the resultant jet of water out away from the foundations where the water could cause real damage. Yes, gargoyles are water spouts with a decorative aspect to them too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image836\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/gar4.jpg\" alt=\"gargoyle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.parismontmartre.net\/livre.htm\">a colourful description<\/a> of how the gargoyles represent a dragon said to have been killed by St Romanus, that lived near the Seine and demanded annual sacrifices of young maidens and seamen. But today it serves as a great spot for people to meet and have a romantic view over Paris that is not the Eiffel Tower.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image837\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/gar11.jpg\" alt=\"gargoyle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And there are grotesques too &#8211; like this image of a monk<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image838\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/gar7.jpg\" alt=\"gargoyle\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image839\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/gar6.jpg\" alt=\"gargoyle\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"image840\" src=\"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/gar5.jpg\" alt=\"gargoyle\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Cheers<br \/>\nJerry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people looking for Gargoyles in Paris go straight to the Notre Dame cathedral where they will find the same gargoyles that are on every postcard. Perhaps it is reassuring that you can actually see the ones in the postcards. But if you head up to the top of the Montmartre butte &#8211; in one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lostbiro.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}