Festivities concluded with a show took place to celebrate the end of the restoration of the Virgin and Child, the symbol of the city which stands at its highest point.
The sea spray, the mistral and the pollution had made it lose its luster: after nine months of restoration, the Good Mother, emblem of all of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), regained its luster on Sunday, with a procession and sound and light show to support it.
No less than 40,000 gold leaves were placed on the statue of Notre-Dame de la Garde – 10 tonnes and 10 m high -, the final stage of a global project launched in February.
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“Family of the Marseillais”
This virgin and child, which stands at the highest point of the city (altitude: 220 m), “part of the Marseillais family”launched the Cardinal of Marseille Jean-Marc Aveline, during a ceremony at the Abbey of Saint-Victor, another essential religious monument in Marseille, full to bursting.
And, believers or not, the people of Marseille maintain a relationship with her. “proximity”daring to confide to him “the misfortunes of their lives”also affirmed Monsignor Aveline, before the start of a procession towards this most visited site in the city. The festivities concluded with a show by DJ Michaël Canitrot, who closed the reopening ceremonies of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Evelyne Gasquet, 79 years old, remembers, for example, having been there “every Sunday for a year” to help his sister, “seriously ill”. She was “answered”. With her husband, she also went there regularly “while hiking, to support professional projects” of their daughter. Granted there too, she said.
“Without its Good Mother, this city will disappear”
Mélanie Blanc, 34, in retraining, recounts how her grandmother frequented the place to hope for her husband’s return from the Algerian war. A return “which my grandmother attributed to the Good Mother”. “It feels good to go there, it reconnects me to the sacred”assures Mélanie today.
“We have the impression that, without its Good Mother, this city will disappear”also laughs Bernard Combelles, 63 years old, executive at the Marseille shipowner CMA CGM, who notes “the proximity of political leaders and the church. At every religious event, they are there”.
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The total cost of the project will have required 2.8 million euros. Some 40,000 people and businesses contributed 1.5 million euros, the balance being financed by the communities.
