Basilique Notre-Dame la Daurade

Toulouse

The Black Madonna still watches over the quays of the Garonne, so the people of Toulouse say.

La Daurade takes its name from a 5th-6th-century abbey adorned with sumptuous gilded mosaics ("deaurata"), one of the oldest Christian sanctuaries in Toulouse, destroyed at the time of the Revolution. The present church, in neoclassical style, was rebuilt between 1764 and 1836 to plans by the architect Guillaume Cammas, set slightly back from the former abbey church. It houses a statue of a Black Madonna, the object of an ancient popular devotion in Toulouse and of many pilgrimages, notably connected with the protection of the boatmen who worked the nearby Garonne.

Getting there : Place de la Daurade, on the banks of the Garonne, Toulouse; free admission

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

Ambient sound