Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume

About

The Basilica of Saint-Marie-Madeleine de Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, begun in 1295 and completed in 1532, is the most important Gothic-style religious building built in Provence. Built under the impetus of Charles II of Anjou, Count of Provence, after the "rediscovery" of the relics of Mary Madeleine under the floor of the church of the city a few years earlier, this church was intended to be the place of welcome of pilgrims on the tomb of Mary Magdalene. The planned grandiose works will spread over several centuries and experience several interruptions.

The church will never be completed according to plans. High place of pilgrimage of Christendom in the Middle Ages, the building suffered the degradation of the French Revolution but preserved its great organ of the eighteenth century. It is listed on the list of historical monuments of 1840, and many elements of its interior furniture are also classified as historical monuments such as crypt sarcophagi, paintings, sculptures and the large organ buffet.

The church "officially" obtained the title of minor basilica in 2017. Recent excavations and studies have highlighted the presence of...