The Marseille statue of the “Good Mother” will be re-gilded, like every 30 years

Work on the statue of the Virgin and Child, emblematic of France's second city, will last 10 months, between September 2024 and January 2025, said the diocese of Marseille, calling on individuals and businesses to make donations.

Renovation is necessary every 30 years and the last ones took place in 1989, 1963, 1936 and 1897, according to Xavier David, architect in charge of the site.

However, technological developments should allow the renovation to last longer this time.

We are going to do "the gilding in a confined environment, that is to say we are setting up a scaffolding, an iron box which will envelop" the statue which will be protected from urban pollution and marine pollution. , specified Mr. David.

This “very careful work” allows him to hope that the gilding will last 50 years on this monument which attracts more than two million visitors each year and which will remain open during the work.

Some 30.000 gold leaves will be applied to the statue by “a team of five to six gilders”, detailed Mr. David. The work will also concern the metal structure of the statue, the bell tower, the angels in the bell tower and even the cleaning of the crypt.

Mgr Aveline insisted on “the symbolic importance of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde”, ensuring that the “Good Mother” evoked the values ​​of welcome and dignity to the people of Marseillais.

Marseille is "a city where the population, for the most part, arrived from elsewhere (...) because of various problems of war, famine, poverty, corruption", recalled the cardinal. The statue, perched on top of a hill, offers “pride of identity”.

The name of each donor, whatever the amount given, will be inscribed on an ex-voto in the shape of a heart, announced the diocese, adding that patrons have already committed, such as the shipowner CMA CGM of billionaire Rodolphe Saadé, based in Marseille.