Marian Shrine of Beauraing

About

The Basilica of Our Lady with the Golden Heart (French: Sanctuary Notre-Dame de Beauraing, and also Sanctuaire de la Vierge au cœur d'Or) is a basilica in the Belgian city of Beauraing. The church has been a basilica minor since Pope Francis' upliftment on 22 August 2013. She is devoted to Our Lady.

The church is a famous Belgian pilgrimage. The place of pilgrimage and Mary was created by the construction of a neo-Roman chapel after the appearances of the Virgin Mary to five children, between 1932 and 1933. The construction of the first chapel began in 1947 after plans by architect Michel Claes, shortly before the official recognition of the appearances by Bishop Charue, Bishop of Namur.

This chapel was inaugurated in 1954. Other prayer houses were built in the following years (first the crypt that accommodates 700 believers, on top of the upper church with 5,000 places). The upper church was built from 1964 to 1968 and was dedicated to Mary, Mother of God in 1968.

It is a large concrete building built on the hill according to the plans of the architect Roger Bastin. The upper church can accommodate up to 5,000 pilgrims. The whole is covered with a large stepped...