Chapelle Notre-Dame de Beauvoir (Beausset-Vieux)

Le Beausset

The former fortified village of Le Beausset, abandoned for the plain in 1506 after the demolition of its castle around 1615, this rocky summit has kept its Romanesque chapel of 1164, which after the Revolution became a Marian pilgrimage sanctuary. Its gallery holds more than eighty ex-votos of the 18th and 19th centuries, listed as historic monuments in 1995, several of them with well-documented maritime themes (a frigate in peril off the île Bourbon, a sailor saved from drowning, the wreck of the Paul Bousquet in 1876) — even if, contrary to a tradition sometimes reported, no source confirms a specific pilgrimage of rescued sailors climbing barefoot with a piece of their wrecked ship. A statue of Saint Mary Magdalene stands inside the chapel, alongside a wooden Christ and a statue of Saint Joseph.

Getting there : Walking trail from Le Beausset, marked out by twelve oratories (the "chemin des oratoires")

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

Ambient sound