Sacré-Cœur, Paris in the context of "Butte"

The Palais Garnier (French: [palɛ ɡaʁnje] , Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (French: [ɔpeʁa ɡaʁnje] , Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seat opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. Initially referred to as le nouvel Opéra de Paris (the new Paris Opera), it soon became known as the Palais Garnier, "in acknowledgment of its extraordinary opulence" and the architect Charles Garnier's plans and designs, which are representative of the Napoleon III style. It was the primary theatre of the Paris Opera and its associated Paris Opera Ballet until 1989, when a new opera house, the Opéra Bastille, opened at the Place de la Bastille. The company now uses the Palais Garnier mainly for ballet. The theatre has been a monument historique of France since 1923.

The Palais Garnier has been called "probably the most famous opera house in the world, a symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica". This is at least partly due to its use as the setting for Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and, especially, the novel's subsequent adaptations in films and the popular 1986 musical. Another contributing factor is that among the buildings constructed in Paris during the Second Empire, besides being the most expensive, it has been described as the only one that is "unquestionably a masterpiece of the first rank".

Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orthodox Christian architecture dating from the 5th through 11th centuries, notably that of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and the Exarchate of Ravenna.

Neo-Byzantine architecture emerged in the 1840s in Western Europe and peaked in the last quarter of the 19th century with the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris, and with monumental works in the Russian Empire, and later Bulgaria. The Neo-Byzantine school was active in Yugoslavia in the interwar period.

In Paris, the Belle Époque (1871–1914) saw the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Métro, the completion of the Opera, the Rue Réaumur and the beginning of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre. Three lavish "universal expositions" in 1878, 1889, and 1900 brought millions of visitors to Paris to sample the latest innovations in commerce, art, and technology. Paris was the scene of the first public projection of a motion picture, and the birthplace of the Ballets Russes, Impressionism, and Modern Art.

The expression Belle Époque ("beautiful era") came into use after the First World War; it was a nostalgic term for what seemed a simpler time of optimism, elegance, and progress.

Montmartre (UK: /mɒnˈmɑːrtrə/ mon-MAR-trə, US: /moʊnˈ-/ mohn-, French: [mɔ̃martr] ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is 130 m (430 ft) high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its artistic history, for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit, and as a nightclub district.

The other church on the hill, Saint Pierre de Montmartre, built in 1147, was the church of the prestigious Montmartre Abbey. On 15 August 1534, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier and five other companions bound themselves by vows in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, 11 Rue Yvonne Le Tac, the first step in the creation of the Jesuits.

Lucien Magne (27 December 1849 – 25 July 1916) was a French architect specialising in religious buildings.

He took a large part in the completion of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre on the death of Paul Abadie (1884). He created the stained glass museum of the Trocadéro.

Château-Landon (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto lɑ̃dɔ̃] ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. The commune contains the Souppes-sur-Loing quarry, where the bright white travertine stones for the construction of the Sacré-Cœur, Paris, were sourced. Formerly the seat of the canton of Château-Landon, it has been part of the canton of Nemours since 2015.