Notre-Dame de la Garde

La Bonne Mere stands at one hundred and forty-nine metres on a limestone spur, the highest point in Marseille, on the site of a chapel and later a fort; the present neo-Byzantine basilica was begun in 1853 and consecrated, still unfinished, in 1864 in banded white and green stone, with a gilded Virgin more than eleven metres tall on the belfry, some sixty metres above the forecourt, visible from most of the city and far out to sea. Inside, the walls carry ex-votos left by sailors and families: painted panels of storms survived, model ships hanging from the ceiling, plaques, crutches. The terrace gives the whole city, the port, the islands and the coast in one sweep.

History

In 1214 a Marseille priest, Master Pierre, received leave from the abbey of Saint-Victor to plant vines and build a chapel to the Virgin on the hill of La Garde; it was finished four years later and appears in a papal bull of 18 June 1218, and after his death in 1256 it became a priory. The hill, a natural lookout, was one of the beacon sites Charles II of Anjou ordered along the Provençal coast in 1302, a larger chapel replaced the first early in the 15th century, and from the late 16th century sailors who survived shipwrecks brought their ex-votos here. In 1850 the chaplain Father Jean-Antoine Bernard asked the army, which held the fort, to allow a larger church, granted in 1852; the Romano-Byzantine design was drawn by Henri-Jacques Espérandieu, then just twenty-three, Bishop de Mazenod laid the first stone on 11 September 1853, and the church was consecrated, still unfinished, on 5 June 1864, the work going on for more than 40 years in all (Wikipedia, Notre-Dame de la Garde).

Highlights

• The ex-voto collection - model ships, painted storms and plaques of thanks.
• The banded exterior - white and green stone in neo-Byzantine style.
• The gilded Virgin - a statue high on the belfry seen across the city.
• The terrace panorama - Marseille, the islands and the coast.

When to go

Year-round; the basilica is free and open daily. Morning light suits the harbour view, evening the sea. The climb on foot is long and steep, and the bus is the practical option.

Before you go

It is a working church with services and dress expectations. The terrace is crowded with coach groups through the middle of the day. Bullet marks from the 1944 fighting remain on the walls.

Nearby

The Vieux-Port lies below; the MuCEM is at the harbour mouth.

Key facts