Église Notre-Dame de Béhuard

Béhuard

Béhuard is a small island in the Loire whose distinctiveness lies in its rock: the church is quite literally set upon it, the stone breaking through inside the building itself and serving as the floor of the choir. Tradition relates that Maurille, bishop of Angers in the 5th century, Christianised the place by dedicating to Our Lady a rock hitherto devoted to a water deity, which would make Béhuard one of the oldest Marian sanctuaries in western France. Around the middle of the 11th century, Count Geoffrey Martel entrusted the island to the Breton knight Buhard, who built his dwelling and an oratory there and bequeathed his property to the abbey of Saint-Nicolas in Angers. In 1453, the future Louis XI, then about twenty years old, escaped drowning in the Charente by invoking Our Lady of Béhuard; once king, he kept his vow and on 26 June 1469 ordered the building of a chapel to replace the oratory, completed in 1472. He would return here on pilgrimage more than twenty times. The timber roof shaped like an upturned ship's hull and the ex-votos recall that the Loire boatmen came here to pray before crossing the river, fearsome at this point. The pilgrimage, having lapsed, was revived by Bishop Freppel after 1870, and the Virgin was solemnly crowned in 1923; the sanctuary still draws large numbers on 15 August.

Sanctuaire marial de Béhuard — histoire du lieu ↗

Getting there : Île de Béhuard, some fifteen kilometres south-west of Angers, linked to the bank by a road that can be cut off when the Loire floods — check the state of the road in winter. Car park at the entrance to the village; the island is explored on foot. The church, at the end of a lane climbing to the rock, is open all year round and admission is free. Major pilgrimage on 15 August; the nave is reached by a few steps cut into the rock, difficult for wheelchairs.

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

Ambient sound