Photo : Vassil / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Basilique de L'Epine
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de l'Épine stands in the village of L'Épine, near Châlons-en-Champagne, in the Marne. It is considered a masterpiece of Flamboyant Gothic. A chapel is recorded from the early 13th century; the pilgrimage grew from 1405, and construction of the present church began in 1406 and ended in 1527.
The name comes from a statue of the Virgin and Child which, according to a 17th-century legend, shepherds found in a burning thorn bush.
The building has the proportions of a cathedral. The façade has three portals and two unequal spires, the right one rising to 55 metres; the left one, taken down in 1798 to install a Chappe telegraph, was rebuilt in 1868. There are many gargoyles, and the late 15th-century rood screen is remarkable. Listed as a historic monument in 1840 and made a basilica in 1914, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.
