Photo : Benh Lieu Song / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde
Perched on a limestone hill of 162 metres, in the 6th and 7th arrondissements of Marseille, the basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde dominates the whole city. It was built from 1853 to 1864 by the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu, in a Romanesque-Byzantine style, and consecrated on 5 June 1864. It replaces a Marian chapel attested as early as 1214, then a fort that Francis I had built in 1536 to defend against Charles V.
The 41-metre bell tower carries a statue of the Virgin and Child 11.2 metres high, in galvanised copper and then gilded with gold leaf. Nicknamed "la Bonne Mère", the church has been regarded since the Middle Ages as the protector of sailors and fishermen, and it has become the emblem of Marseille. A long restoration, carried out from 2001 to 2008, notably dealt with damage to the green Florentine stone caused by air pollution.
From the forecourt, the gaze takes in the city, the harbour and the Mediterranean.
