After three years of renovation, the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde museum in Marseille has just reopened.
Nicknamed "Good Mother" by the people of Marseille who are at least as attached to it as to OM, the basilica and its monumental golden statue overlooks the Marseille city.
For tourists, it is one of the key places to visit, along with the Mucem and the radiant city of Corbusier.
Nestled under the Basilica's drawbridge, the 300 m2 museum recounts the 800-year history of the place.
It had been closed in 2019 only six years after its inauguration due to lack of attendance.
This time, with photographs, testimonials from the time of Marseillais, sound and audio archives such as INA videos, the route is more interesting.
Large number of ex-votos
The works are also better highlighted.
The museum has a large number of ex-votos given by believers to thank the “Good Mother” for granting their wishes, objects of worship and works donated by important families.
We see in particular an Annunciation in earthenware from the Florentine workshop of Della Robbia, a bust of the Mater Dolorosa by the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, but also the
Virgin and Child
by Cortot... In a video to see on YouTube, the Father Olivier Spinoza, rector of the Basilica explains that he still receives about ten ex-votos per year.
"They are given by people who want to pray intensely, who sometimes have a very painful situation to live,"
he explains.
The route reveals the pilgrimages (especially at the time of epidemics) to the "Good Mother" over the centuries, the origins of the sanctuary in 1214, its reconstruction in the middle of the 19th century and also explains why the people of Marseilles are so attached to it.
The place will be animated by two temporary exhibitions per year.
Until spring, the museum offers an exhibition on the theme of Provençal Christmas with several dozen santons and nativity scenes on loan from the Château Gombert museum.
The next exhibition will be dedicated to the Shroud of Turin.
In Marseille, where municipal museums are often closed for lack of staff, the reopening of this museum precedes the highly anticipated one of the contemporary art museum (MAC) announced next February.
Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde Museum: open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Price: 2 euros, free for children under twelve.
Guided tours of the museum and the basilica on request: 160 euros for 25 people.
