Quote:
Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim
Yeah the escalators did it for me. After I saw those, I knew I was in a strange strange place.
The Oratoire is a strange place, very classical looking on the outside, I believe the dome was topped out in 1938. But the interior has strong modern 50's 60's vibes.
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I visited it for the first time back when I was a teenager, and I remember being surprised at how different the interior looked compared to the exterior. Between how long it took to build it and the era in which it was built (when tastes changed from the traditional to the modern), I suppose it isn't surprising that it ended up the way it did. Even though they don't look alike, it reminds me a bit of the Sacred Heart Basilica in Brussels which also straddles the traditional and modern eras.
The interior is really impressive, though... it's grandiose in a somewhat stark, modern kind of way.
I suspect the reason it isn't as well known as, say, Notre Dame, is the somewhat out of the way location. Most people won't just stumble on the Oratoire, you kind of have to go looking for it.