Le Puy en Velay - Notre-Dame de France

Since the early (even pre-Christian) times Le Puy has been a center of pilgrimage. Le Puy was a centre of the cult of Our Lady, already Charlemagne made the pilgrimage to Le Puy twice.

Over centuries a miraculous original Black Virgin was adored here. The statue was given to the cathedral by Louis IX (Saint-Louis) on his return from Egypt (7th cruisade). This statue was burnt by furious revolutionists during the heaydays of the Revolution just outside the cathedral.

The citizens of Le Puy probably bitterly regreted all the vandalism done in that times, what may have led to the erection of "Notre-Dame de France" on the top of the Rocher Corneille.

The statue is 16 metres high and weights (including the massive bedestal) about 835 tons. It was made from 213 Russian cannons taken in the "Siege of Sevastopol" (1854–1855).