Lourdes

According to the Catholic Church in 1858, February 11, on Thursday, the fourteen-year-old local resident Bernadette Soubirous ( French Bernadette Soubirous ) appeared Virgin Mary ^[2] . This happened in one of the caves , Masabiel , which are many in the mountain spurs surrounding the city.

Bernadette testified of 18 "appearances." Last - July 16 of the same year. The Catholic Church at first was extremely cautious of the statements of the girl, who was subjected to numerous interrogations by the administrative and church authorities and equally to numerous medical examinations, absolutely all of which recognized her full sanity and the positively balanced nature of her personality. Bernadette later became a nun.

The church conducted a thorough check of all the facts stated by the girl. As a result, in 1933 she was canonized under the name of Saint Bernadette, and the city of Lourdes turned into one of the most visited cities not only in France, but throughout Europe. Up to five million pilgrims come to Lourdes annually . Only those who hope to find a cure for their ailments here come to more than 70 thousand a year. Since 1858, about 7,000 cases of unexplained healing have been recorded. According to 2013 data, only 69 of them were officially recognized by the Church as miraculous healings ^[3] .

At the place where the Virgin Mary first appeared to Bernadette, a sanctuary was erected by the method of folk construction, a sanctuary : Notre-Dame de Lourdes ( French Notre-Dame de Lourdes ). The Saint-Michel bridge ( Fr. Pont St-Michel ) leads to it, which is, as it were, the entrance, portal to the open-air church. The role of the nave is performed by the Esplanade des processions , then the Underground Basilica of St. Pius X ( French Basilique souterraine St-Pie X ), which can simultaneously accommodate up to 25 thousand people ^[4] . Next is a statue of the Virgin Mary, it is installed as if in a niche of the altar .

The basis of the sanctuary is two basilicas : the neo-Byzantine Basilica of the Rosary ( French Basilique du rosaire ) ^[5] and the neo-Gothic Upper Basilica ( French Basilique supérieure ), it is also the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception ^[6] . Pilgrims can go down from the basilica to the Grottte de Massabielle Grotto , where phenomena took place. Water from a spring found in the Bernadette cave is currently diverted to a pump room located near the grotto, where it is accessible to all comers, and also serves to fill six female and eleven male fonts , also located near the grotto ^[7] . Water tanks, which many believers consider miraculous, are one of the main trade items in the city. South of the Upper Basilica on the steep hillsides, a pilgrimage route was laid with fourteen stops on the Way of Jesus Christ on the way to Calvary .

• Sanctuary .
• Buildings related to the life of St. Bernadette.
• Wax museum with an exposition on Christian themes.
• A fortress with a picturesque view of the sanctuary from its walls.

More than 5 million pilgrims visit Lourdes annually ^[8] . The largest annual pilgrimages are the French National Pilgrimage (August 15, Assumption Day) ^[9] , the Dominican pilgrimage (October 7, the feast of the Virgin Mary of the Rosary ) and the international pilgrimage of Catholic soldiers (May) ^[10] .

Thanks to the influx of pilgrims, the small city in the Pyrenees is second in France in terms of the number of hotel rooms after Paris and ahead of Nice ^[8] .

The city has a train station on the Toulouse - Tarbes - Po line .

Born on January 1, 1953. Philippe Douste-Blazy is a prominent political and statesman in France, a member of the Association for the Support of the Republic (ODA, French Rassemblement pour la République, RPR ). He was the Minister of Culture in the cabinet of Alain Juppe from 1995 to 1997, the Minister of Health and the Minister for Family Affairs in the cabinet of Jean-Pierre Raffaren from 2004 to 2005, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Dominic de Villepin from June 2, 2005 to May 15 2007 year

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  Statue of virgin mary

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• Altötting (Germany)
• Fatima (Portugal)
• Loreto (Italy)
• Mariazell (Austria)
• Czestochowa (Poland)

• The action film " Lourdes " (2009) Jessica Hausner takes place in Lourdes. In the story, the heroine Christina comes to the city to heal paralysis. Showing the sights of the city, churches, caves, pilgrims; The atmosphere of the place is conveyed.
• Emil Zola ’s novel “Lourdes” is also dedicated to this city and considers the history of Bernadette and the development of the pilgrimage center from the standpoint of anti-clericalism .
• The novel "Miracle" by Irwin Wallace also takes place in Lourdes. The book begins with a message from the Vatican about the new appearance of the Virgin Mary.

• "France" Travel Guide. "Around the world". 2005. ISBN 5-98652-029-7

In foreign languages

• The Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume IX. New York 1910
• Henri Lasserre "Notre-Dame de Lourdes" éditions DFT, avril 2003
• René Laurentin "Vie de Bernadette" éd.Desclée De Brouwer, 1978, 2007

• Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes (French)
• Information about Lourdes
• Photogallery “Lourdes” (Russian)