Basilica of Notre-Dame

The Basilica of Notre-Dame is a Catholic pilgrimage church dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus. Located in Marienthal, in the Bas-Rhin department of France, it is administratively situated in the town of Haguenau.

The first sanctuary at this site was built around 1250 by the knight Albert of Haguenau (died in 1254), who had had a religious epiphany some ten years prior and had gathered a small community of faithful around him. This first sanctuary, called 'Mary in the Valley', venerated a statue of the Madonna and Child which is not preserved today. The two statues that are venerated today, a Madonna and Child and a Pietà, date from the early 15th century. In the 18th century, the basilica also received precious gifts from queen consort Marie Leszczyńska.

The current, spacious church was built in 1863–1866 in the Gothic Revival style, but keeps a Late Gothic sacristy from 1519, decorated with early Renaissance bosses, and elaborate works of art such as a Dormition of Virgin Mary, and an Entombment of Christ, carved in sandstone by the local master sculptor, Friedrich Hammer (also known as Fritz Hammer, or Frédéric Hammer). Among the 19th-century works of art in the basilica figures a set of frescoes by Martin von Feuerstein (1889).

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Place de la Basilique Marienthal 1, Haguenau, France

Details

Founded: 1863-1866
Category: Religious sites in France