Notre Dame de la Garde

The Church of Notre Dame de la Garde sits high up on the slope sitting above the Old Port. This brilliant minor basilica is one of the best attractions in Marseille and it merits influencing the outing to up there only for the view alone. The site of a well known Assumption Day journey, it is the most visited site in Marseille.

Worked in the nineteenth century, the church remains on the site of a thirteenth century sanctuary and the establishments of a sixteenth century fortification, leftovers of which can at present be seen at the base of the church. Striking figures detained in the post incorporate individuals from the Bourbon family who were held here in the late eighteenth century.

The building highlights a striking outside of green and white striped stonework, a great bell tower beat by a sparkling, overlaid statue of Our Lady, four trumpeting holy messengers at her feet, statues of Isaiah and Saint John close to the main passage, and a drawbridge.