In France the modern period may be said to open with the basilica of the Sacre Coeur, Paris, designed by Abadie and begun in 1875. Standing on the summit of the Butte Montmartre, it forms a conspicuous object in the northern approach to Paris, and closes impressively the vistas of streets ascending from the main boulevards. Romanesque-Byzantine in style, the Sacre Coeur represents the first important break with the Renaissance tradition in France. Otherwise recent religious architecture in France is remarkable chiefly for daring experiments in reinforced concrete. The best known examples are the churches of St. Denis, Paris, Notre Dame, Raincy, and St. Therese, Montmagny, by the brothers Auguste and Gustave Perret, in which an attempt has been made to work out forms proceeding logically from the material itself, used constructively, with very slender internal supports, and an elaborate tracery—or rather trellis—of concrete at the windows. In the Byzantine church at Vincennes, by J. Marast, which is faced externally with brick, the vaulting is car ried out with deep concrete ribs, dividing the roof into panels, and dispensing with intermediate supports. Other interesting examples of religious architecture in France are the church of St. Francois, St. Etienne, entirely of reinforced concrete, the columns being supported by screw-jacks to allow compensation for movements caused by mining operations below, and the tower of St. Louis, Villemomble, by Paul Tournon, with sculptured decoration in concrete.
In Germany also, the chief interest is in the use of concrete, as in the churches by Prof. Dominikus Bohm at Neu-Ulm and Bischofsheim, near Mainz. In them concrete has been employed more solidly than in the French examples, with more emphasis upon the plastic mass of concrete than upon the steel supports, in a system of parabolic vaulting which, with its projecting ribs, intersecting to form complicated patterns in the roof, suggests a true translation of Gothic principles into the new material. Other recent German churches to be noted are St. Gabriel's, Munich, by 0. Kurz and E. Herbert, in Byzantine-Romanesque, and the Protestant church at Ellingen, by Bestelmeyer, which is octag onal in plan, with circular galleries, and has a bulb-domed minaret or campanile.
Common to all the countries of Europe is an attempt to recover a national style from the Gothic and Classic revivals, which all have experienced in some degree, embodying the principles of both without their stylish accidents; the energy of Gothic and the order and proportion of Classic. In Holland this takes the form of a development of the native brick construction, an excel lent example being the church at Bussum, by Cuypers, a domed structure with round arches and vaulting ribs in brick. Other modern churches in Holland which call for mention as formal essays in brick construction are those at The Hague, by Krop holler, Bussum, by Rueter, and Utrecht, by Slothouwer.
In Scandanavia the modern impulse appears to have originated in Denmark, where there are several interesting new churches, a stepped gable, on both tower and transepts, being a characteristic feature. The church of St. Hans Tveje, Odensee, and Grundtvig's church—associated with a housing scheme—Copenhagen, by P. V. J. Klint, are striking examples. With their tall fluted towers, ending in stepped gables, they have a curiously organ-like effect. Among smaller and simpler buildings may be named Gurre church, by Carl Brunner, the church at Aarhus, by K. Gottlieb and A. Frederiksen, and the church at Frederiksberg, by Hanning and Frederiksen.
In Sweden the national style that is emerging from the various "revivals" in response to the modern spirit appears to be —paradoxical as it may sound—a fusion of the Byzantine and the Baroque, at any rate in religious architecture, with a substitution of lean and angular forms for the full curves we associate with Baroque in the South. Two famous examples are the Saltsjobaden church, by Ferdinand Boberg, and Hogalid church, Stockholm, by Ivar Justus Tengbom. Both churches are without aisles, the Saltsjobaden church, which contains interesting sculpture in bronze and alabaster by Carl Milles, having a polygonal apse and a single tower; while the other, which is vaulted internally, the ribs being rectangular in section, has twin towers, rather oriental in character, with bulbous domes. Masthuggs church, Gothenburg, by Sigfrid Ericson, with its massive tower and open timbered roof ; Engelbrecht church, Stockholm, by L. T. Wahlman, a high shouldered, cruciform edifice, vaulted in parabolic curves; and the small chapels by Gunnar E. Asplund and Sigurd Lerverentz, the one circular and the other like a little Corinthian temple, in the cemetery at Enskede, are other interesting buildings.