Lourdes is a small town in southwestern France, five hundred miles south of Paris, and at the same time one of the largest centers of pilgrimage in Christendom. There are five million pilgrims and tourists annually for 17 thousand local residents. They are brought to Lourdes by a story about an event that happened in 1858, when the Virgin Mary appeared to a girl named Bernadette.
Bernadette Soubirous, daughter of peasants, was 14 at the time. According to her, the woman dressed in white clothes appeared to her 18 times from February 11 to July 16, and talked to her about spiritual secrets and earthly affairs. On March 25, the woman took the image of the Virgin Mary and indicated to Bernadette where to look for the holy source.
At first, no one believed the girl's stories, but a small reservoir soon turned into a pool, and the first evidence of the healing of the sick who came to the source appeared. A few years later, construction began on the first chapel, and word of the Lourdes Spring spread throughout France and beyond.
In one hundred and fifty years, two hundred million people visited Lourdes, and the church officially recognized some cases of cure. There are no other places of pilgrimage in France whose influence on the hearts and minds of believers could compare with the sanctuary of a small town in the Pyrenean foothills.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes includes 22 places of worship, including the Sacred Grotto, two basilicas, the home of Saint Bernadette's parents and a number of buildings for pilgrims and the sick.
The most revered place in Lourdes is the Sacred Grotto, Massabella, the same cave where the Virgin Mary appeared in front of Bernadette, and where the source of healing water is located.
The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is located north of the Grotto and was built between 1866 and 1872. The building is made in the Gothic Renaissance style, on the facade there is a round panel depicting Pope Pius X, in his left hand he holds a decree according to which the Ecumenical Church recognized Bernadette's testimony about the apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes. The basilica can accommodate up to 500 worshipers, the altar is located just above the site of the apparition. The basilica bells sing the hymn "Ave Maria de Lourdes" every hour.
The architecture of the Basilica of the Holy Rosary is influenced by the Byzantine-Romanesque traditions, for example, the Greek cross in the center of the dome. Bernadette told that during visions the Virgin appeared to her with a rosary in her hands, and everything in the basilica tells about the secrets of the Holy Rosary, joyful, sorrowful and glorious. They are depicted on the facades of the building and three arches, and around the central dome are fifteen Mystery Chapels.
