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Church daily: Easter to Oct 8am-6pm; Nov to Easter 8am-5pm; free. Dome daily: Easter to Oct 9am-5pm; Nov to Easter 10am-4pm; ?2.50 . From Metro Simonis - two short subway rides from Metro Gare du Midi - take tram #19 which rattles west round the edge of the lawns leading up to the ugliest church in the capital, the Basilique du Sacre Coeur , a huge structure - 140m long with a 90-metre-tall dome - which dominates the commune of Koekelberg . Begun in 1905 on the orders of Leopold II and still unfinished, the basilica was conceived as a neo-Gothic extravagance in imitation of the basilica to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, Paris - a structure which had made the Belgian king green with envy. But the construction costs proved colossal and the plans had to be modified. The result is a vaguely ludicrous amalgamation of the original neo-Gothic design with Art Deco features added in the 1920s. While you're here, it's worth climbing up to the top of the dome for a panoramic view of the city.
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