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Madonna and child statue of the Notre-Dame de la Garde Basilica
Description
Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally Our Lady of the Guard), a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France, is the city's best-known symbol. The site of a popular Assumption Day pilgrimage, it is the most visited site in Marseille.
Consecrated on 5 June 1864, the Neo-Byzantine church was built by the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu on the foundations of an ancient fort at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 149 m (489 ft) limestone outcropping on the south side of the Old Port of Marseille.
The basilica replaced a church of the same name that was built in 1214 and restored in the 15th century. It consists of a lower church or crypt in the Romanesque style, carved from the rock, and an upper church of Neo-Byzantine style decorated with mosaics. A square 41 m (135 ft) bell tower topped by a 12.5 m (41 ft) belfry supports a monumental 11.2 m (37 ft) statue of the Madonna and Child made of copper gilded with gold leaf.