Region: Midi-Pyrénées Département: Hautes-Pyrénées Altitude: 410 m/1,345ft Population: 15,679
Lourdes, beautifully situated on both banks of the Gave de Pau on the northern fringe of the Pyrenees, is the summer residence of the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes and a famous place of pilgrimage. The impression which Lourdes makes on a visitor will
inevitably depend on his attitude to the pilgrimages which bring millions of believers to Lourdes every year. As a place of pilgrimage Lourdes owes its fame to the appearances of the Virgin to a shepherd girl named Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) in the nearby Grotte de Massabielle on the Gave de Pau, and to the spring found by Bernadette in the cave whose water is credited with healing qualities. Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933.
The central feature of the town proper is the Place Peyramale. A little to the east is the neo-Romanesque church of the Sacré-Coeur (1877-1903). Southwest of the square is the Cachot, the former prison in which the Soubirous family lived. In Rue Bernadette-Soubirous is the Moulin de Boly, in which Bernadette was born. 80 m/260ft above the town is the castle (13th-17th C.), which can be reached in a lift. From the terrace there are fine views. The castle now houses the Museum of the Pyrenees.
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