Postcard #45

Heleny Campoy

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, Montmartre, Paris, France

he Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and often simply Sacré-Cœur, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark and the second most visited monument in Paris,[1] the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the socialist Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ. The basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was completed in 1914. The basilica was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.

Published by Heleny Campoy

My initial step in gaining a concept of ‘living’, was to read. Books became my first love, the toy I most cherished; my ultimate desire. From this viewpoint, I have already been living life to the full. I can remember the very first book I held in my hands. It smelt of fresh ideas escaping into a dead world…bringing it to life. The pages were the path I took to transform that four year old girl into a dreamer. I grew up dreaming: with my books, with 78B2308F-FB45-4C8B-8106-C92EF928305Amy music. The myriad of places I visited, exchanging my simple clothes, living life aplenty through the lives of each of those characters I adored. I was a fairy, a queen, a brave musketeer, a defiant knight, a wise philosopher. Those were my steps to becoming the ‘me’ I am today. Idealistic, but not with my feet off the ground. Full of innovative ideas, yet always ideas imbued with a sense of real fantasy. Believing that everything is possible, I built my byways to now, to this very moment! Today, when I turn my eyes to the tree with its autumnal vestment, the birds are flying to another place far away; I will fly there too… Indeed, travel has been the other cherry atop my fairy-cake of life. The absolute pinnacle. The best moments happen when I am on the move – in Asia or America. Dry and sunny deserts, or snowy mountain-tops. In the middle of a Thai market full of people thriving to live. In a jungle, where every species competes to stay alive. It doesn’t matter where, life flows in my veins, a life worth being lived. This amalgam of books, travel and ideas, has created a person who is hard to define. Strange, reclusive, naïve – the ‘labelling’ has been persistent, but I have learned to accept it and move on. This space is about ideas (mostly mine), mixed with travels, sensations and feelings. It’s not to anybody. It’s for the chosen. But, it is not for me to choose… it’s for you. Welcome then. Give me your mind, and take my hand, it will be something of a roller coaster through uncharted territory.