Today on Monday Mysteries we take a look at the mystery of the Sacre Coeur “mirage” that appeared on day in Paris.
First, take another look at this photo I posted earlier of Sacre Coeur, taken from the Museé d’Orsay (MO):
View of Sacre Coeur from the MO
Notice how far away — and higher up — Sacre Coeur is from the Louvre Palace buildings and the Tuileries Garden in the foreground.
As we were walking around Paris one morning, the air was heavy with a light gray mist. It was a curious atmosphere with a whiteness that muted colors as well as the edges of buildings. As we walked by a corner where we’d gone every day on the way to the Tuileries Gardens, we saw that Sacre Coeur had mysteriously moved closer to the Louvre:
Sacre Coeur “mirage”, Paris
Now, despite the title I gave to this post, what you see there in the photo is not really a mirage of Sacre Coeur, of course, since it is the real Sacre Coeur. But in person the image of Sacre Coeur was very indistinct and seemed almost insubstantial, as though it was being conjured up by some kind of special effect. I have edited the photo in the digital darkroom to make the contrast stand out more; in this edited photo, the sky that looks like a blue sky, which of course it wasn’t at that moment:
Sacre Coeur “mirage” (adjusted)
Please note that the photo hasn’t been manipulated by me to place Sacre Coeur in that position, of course. I’ve only adjusted the lighting and contrast in the image. The church really was there in that spot – it is clearly just a trick of perspective, plus the odd light that made it suddenly visible in this curious way. We hadn’t noticed Sacre Coeur was visible from that spot earlier in the trip, probably because it was often too cloudy to see it:
Sacre Coeur “mirage” (cropped)
Somehow, though, it’s just seems wrong, considering the relative positions of Sacre Coeur and the Louvre Palace.
Anyway, we actually saw this on a Tuesday in September, but I thought it would make for a nice little entry for today’s Monday Mystery.
Sacre Coeur “mirage” (cropped #2)
The Sacre Coeur was always so far in the distance that I never gave it a second thought. However, when I see your cropped picture and the juxtaposition of all the towers, I am quite taken with it. In fact, I cropped it even more by placing my hand between the light pole and the church and found it quite stunning. Very nice.
Thanks, Stan! I agree – I never really thought about how you might be able to see Sacre Coeur while in “downtown” Paris until we saw this!