Notre-Dame de la Garde

Notre-Dame de la Garde is defined by a massive golden statue of the Virgin Mary, which crowns the bell tower and glistens above the city’s highest limestone outcropping. Locals affectionately call the basilica La Bonne Mère, or the Good Mother, viewing her as a protector who has watched over sailors and fishermen for centuries. The building itself, a masterpiece of Roman-Byzantine architecture completed in eighteen sixty-four, rose from the foundations of a sixteenth-century royal fort.