Ermitage et grotte de la Sainte-Baume de Lirac

Lirac

A cool cave above Lirac, where villagers hid when war rumbled. This is the Sainte-Baume of Lirac, so named after the baume, the cave in Provençal. According to the tourist office, it was frequented from the Neolithic. On 16 May 1647, says the association that looks after it, a villager named Joseph Queyranne found a small statue of the Virgin there. He vowed to live there as a hermit, and the cave became a chapel, then a place of pilgrimage. A hermitage was built alongside, and hermits followed one another there until 1905. It was formerly reached by paths; the present road dates from the 19th century, and an access corridor was dug around 1880. Since 1976, the association of the Amis de la Sainte-Baume de Lirac has maintained and renovated the site. Two pilgrimages are held there each year, and the acoustics of the cave also attract concerts.

Occitanie Tourisme — Ermitage et grotte de la Sainte Baume ↗

Getting there: About 2 km from the village of Lirac, by a freely accessible path (on foot: about 25 minutes from the ‘Lirac – Mairie’ stop). The cave and hermitage are open only on certain days (open days set by the association) or on request to the Amis de la Sainte-Baume, tel. 06 62 44 40 88. A fee of €1.50 per person was noted during the open days; to be confirmed.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound