In Marseille, a monumental project to restore the "Bonne-Mère" to its former glory

"It's the chance of a lifetime" to have been able to study this basilica "from the end of the 1990s until today", says the architect in charge of the regilding and restoration work, Xavier David.

"We have finally reached the highest, the most precious, the most important," he adds about the regilding of the 11,2-metre-high statue, whose crown, 225 metres above the Mediterranean, is the highest point in France's second city.

To accurately assess the work, planned from February to December, Xavier David abseiled down the four sides of the golden virgin.

"You also have to see with your hand, you can't just see with your eye," explains the man who has been walking the narrow spiral staircase in the bowels of the "Bonne-Mère" for several decades, at the top of which you can observe, through a trapdoor in the middle of the statue's crown, the entire city of Marseille, its bay and its hills.

After several weeks of installing scaffolding wrapped in heat-sealed tarpaulin, work will begin at the end of the summer on the surface of the statue, whose gilding has been damaged by the mistral, sea air and industrial pollution.

"The regilding of the statue takes place approximately every 30 years," Father Olivier Spinosa, rector of the sanctuary, explained to AFP.

And to recall that the "Bonne-Mère" is "truly a statue that brings people together because, when you arrive in Marseille, you see her from afar, because, one day or another, many people from Marseille have turned to her, to find a little breath, a little hope, some joy".

"Few staff"

"The Virgin is the mother, she is the child, it is very Mediterranean, it is love, so there you go, I think that for that alone, it needs to be restored," enthuses Nicole Leonetti, a retired woman from Marseille visiting the basilica.

Before the construction site, the diocese of Marseille, owner of the building, launched a donation campaign, asking individuals to finance one of the 30.000 gold leaves needed.

The diocese has also received support from patrons, such as the Marseille-based shipping company CMA CGM, owned by billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, the Olympique de Marseille football club and the spirits group Pernod Ricard.

The town hall, the metropolis, the department and the region will also provide financial support for the renovation program.

"What is important to us is that everyone can give," explains Edouard Detaille, responsible for financing the project, whose budget stands at 2,8 million euros, an amount slightly higher than the initial estimates, due to changes in certain quotes.

At the launch of the campaign in May, the city's cardinal, Jean-Marc Aveline, insisted on "the symbolic importance of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde", assuring that the "Good Mother" evoked values ​​of welcome and dignity for the people of Marseille.

Marseille is "a city where the population, for the most part, arrived from elsewhere (...) because of various problems of war, famine, poverty, corruption," the cardinal explained.

The work will not only concern the surface of the statue, but also its metal structure and the angels in the bell tower.

"There will be few staff, only very skilled, very competent companions who will work on the stone, others on the iron, before the arrival of the gilders" in August, explains Xavier David.

A dozen gilders will work "in a kind of sterile atmosphere" inside the scaffolding covered with tarpaulin.

The statue was made in the 19th century using "electroplating", which involves dipping a plaster mold into a copper bath.

It is the largest in the world made with this technique, "which gives the finest and most durable work in sculpture, since 140 years later, this statue is still perfectly intact," explains the architect. "On the condition that we give it special care every 25-30 years."