Notre-Dame of the Guard
See also: Notre-Dame
Notre-Dame of the Guard , also called " Good mère" , is one of the minor Basilique S of the Catholic church. It is located on the heights of Marseilles at 162 m of altitude, in the South of the Old man-Port.
The building
It was built following the request for Saint Charles Eugene de Mazenod and the plans were establish by the architect nîmois Jacques Henri Esperandieu, following his death work were completed by Henri Antoine Révoil. The construction of XIXe S., was carried out of 1863 to 1893 on the old site of a vault of the 13th century, dedicated it also to the Virgin Mary. She is next to the fortifications of the 16th century established by François I {{er}} whose Sceau in form of Salamandre is still visible on the Northern porch of the basilica.
This basilica, which is of style néo-Byzantine is surmounted by a Beffroi of 90m overhung of immense a Mère with the covered gold Child several meters in height. This statue, works of the sculptor Eugene-Louis Lequesne, was carried out by the Parisian Orfèvre Christofle and was posed in 1870. A cast iron staircase makes it possible to climb in its head, with 9,70 meters height. But, currently, it is closed with the public. It acted at the time of the largest statue in galvanoplasty of the world. A copy in reduction was sold shortly after by the manufacturer. One is unaware of the destination of it.
In all, the building required 170.000 tons of materials including 23 cargoes of Marbre and of porphyry coming from Italy.
With the passing of years, it became, for the heart of the Marseillais the protective one of the city and carries the nickname of Good mother . She is the object of all the requests of the citizens who make him present in the shape of candles, of Ex-voto S (for anecdote, the remainders of a vehicle of help of the sailors firemen of Marseilles which burned during a forest fire there were deposited), of shirts to the effigy of the Olympique of Marseilles, but also of processions which take place of August 15th at the time of the Assomption.
The interior of the church is covered marbles of colors. The panorama which one discovers with the accesses of the basilica: on the left, the islands Pomègues and Ratonneau, the castle of Yew and, with far, the chain of Estaque; opposite, the port, behind the foreground consisted the strong St-Jean and the park of Pharo; on the right, the city and its hills. Our-Lady-of-the-guard is the goal of a pilgrimage. An interesting anecdote is related to the construction of the basilica. When it was a question of assembling the bumblebee of 8 tons in top of the hill, one had envisaged an attachment of mules drawing a strong cart. In the middle of the slope, the mules could not about it any more and it seemed well that the enormous bell would never arrive until in top. At this point in time a witness known as: " It is necessary to go to seek Macari". It was a famous contractor of the city. Macari came and had a brilliant idea. It made place an enormous pulley at the foot of the basilica. It passed there very long and solid cord which it attached on one side to the cart and other to the mules placed in the direction of the descent. As it was easier for these animals to draw while going down than while going up the bumblebee could finally arrive at destination. It is since then in Marseilles, when one is in front of a severe difficulty one says: It is necessary to go to seek Macari.
History
1873: The bumblebee of 8 tons arrives in top of the hill, thanks to Macari
- 1214: it is mentioned a vault which sheltered ready Accoules come to settle like Ermite.
- 1525 : François I {{er}} orders the construction of a fort at the top
- September 11th 1853: First stone
- 1864: end of construction
- In 1871, during the Common , following the insurrectionary movement of the Marseillais, this basilica was called “Our-Lady-of-the-Bombarded” in memory with the military response which had positioned its artillery with the feet of Notre-Dame.
- 1892 : inauguration of the funicular (see photographs opposite)
- 1897: the statue is regilded
- 1936: the statue is regilded
- 1963: the statue is regilded
- 1967: closing of the funicular
- 1989: the statue is regilded
The Funicular
It functioned with a hydraulic system of unballasting making it possible to make mount a nacelle while the other goes down. This Ascenseur was set up in 1892.| Random links: | Sexual relation | John Van Tongeren | The Community of communes of Vouvrillon | Zoological company of France | Florence Henri | Nicomedia |