10 Facts About Lourdes

Lourdes is a market town situated in the Pyrenees.

In 1858 Lourdes rose to prominence in France and abroad due to the Marian apparitions claimed to have been seen by the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who was later canonized.

Shortly thereafter the city with the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes became one of the world's most important sites of pilgrimage and religious tourism.

Lourdes visited the Black Virgin of Puy to offer gifts, so he could make sure this was the best course of action and, astounded by its exceptional beauty, he decided to surrender the fort and converted to Christianity.

Lourdes was the destination for a tour of the statue of Our Lady of Boulogne which aimed to secure the spiritual salvation of France.

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Since the apparitions, Lourdes has become one of the world's leading Catholic Marian shrines.

Lourdes is located in southern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains near the prime meridian.

Lourdes has become a major place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and of miraculous healings.

Five-domed St Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Lourdes was designed by Myroslav Nimciv, while its Byzantine interior polychrome decorations were executed by artist Jerzy Nowosielski and the iconostasis by Petro Kholodny.

The town's railway station Gare de Lourdes is served by SNCF and TGV trains, including a high-speed TGV service from Paris which takes four-and-a-half hours.