Today, the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur (Sacred Heart) is a religious monument among others. And yet, it is the result of a troubled historical period. In 1870, France and Prussia were at war. Paris was besieged for four months and the starving population was reduced to eating the animals in the Jardin des Plantes. In 1871, a cease-fire was signed, but the Parisians seized the cannons stored on the Montmartre hillock. This was the beginning of the Paris Commune. The Sacré-Coeur was built from 1875 onwards as an atonement for divine wrath. Planned for 1914, its inauguration was postponed by the First World War until 1919.