page_title: Notre-Dame de la Garde
section_title: A providential man: Escaramagne
hierarchical_section_title: Notre-Dame de la Garde / Revolutionary period / A providential man: Escaramagne
caption_attribution_description: Vierge au bouquet située dans la crypte de la basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde. Statue du XVIII° siècle.
context_page_description: Notre-Dame de la Garde, in French for Marseille’s citizens “la bonne mère”, is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France, and the city's best-known symbol. The site of a popular Assumption Day pilgrimage, it was the most visited site in Marseille. It was built on the foundations of an ancient fort at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 149 m limestone outcropping on the south side of the Old Port of Marseille.
  Construction of the basilica began in 1852 and lasted for 21 years. It was originally an enlargement of a medieval chapel, but was transformed into a new structure at the request of Father Bernard, the chaplain. The plans were made and developed by the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu. It was consecrated while still unfinished on June 5, 1864.
  The basilica consists of a lower church or crypt in the Romanesque style, carved from the rock, and an upper church of Neo-Byzantine style decorated with mosaics. A square 41 m bell tower topped by a 12.5 m belfry supports a monumental 11.2 m statue of the Madonna and Child made of copper gilded with gold leaf.
context_section_description: The last of the objects from the sanctuary were auctioned off on April 10, 1795. The chapel was nationalized and rented to Joseph Escaramagne. A former ship's captain who lived in what is now the current place du Colonel-Edon, Escaramagne had a deep devotion to the Virgin. After worship resumed in some parishes, he wrote in September 1800 to the Minister of War, Lazare Carnot, asking to reopen the sanctuary. But prefect Charles-François Delacroix voiced opposition when the minister consulted him. The chapel finally re-opened for worship on April 4, 1807.
  Escaramagne bought at auction an 18th-century statue of the Virgin and child from a monastery of the Picpus Fathers that had been demolished during the Revolution. He offered the statue to the La Garde church. The scepter that the virgin had held was replaced by a bouquet of flowers, hence the statue became known as the "Virgin of the bouquet". To make way for a new silver statue created in 1837, this statue was given to the Montrieux charterhouse, then returned in 1979 to the sanctuary. The statue of the Virgin of the bouquet is currently displayed on the altar in the crypt.
caption: Virgin with child and bouquet
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