The Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

In 636, a boat containing a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus was discovered in the Liane estuary. It was placed in a chapel in the upper town, built on the site of a Roman temple.

In 1100, in order to accommodate more pilgrims coming to pay homage to the Virgin, Countess Ide of Boulogne decided to have a Gothic-style church and crypt built in place of the chapel.

After Louis XI granted her suzerainty over the County of Boulogne in 1478, the Virgin and her cathedral suffered extensive damage due to the wars with England and the religious wars of the 16th century. In 1793, the revolutionaries burned this ancient image of the Virgin Mary; all that remains today is a fragment of her hand, preserved in a reliquary. Five years later, the cathedral was completely razed.

It was thanks to Father Haffreingue that the basilica was rebuilt between 1827 and 1857, modeled after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In 1866, it was consecrated as the Cathedral of “Notre Dame and St. Joseph,” and a new statue of the Virgin Mary, carved from oak, was created.

Since 1854, from the Feast of the Assumption to the last Sunday in August, the annual pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Boulogne—which concludes with a grand procession through the city streets—has continued to attract many pilgrims from the region and beyond.

During a visit, it’s hard to miss the 88-meter-high dome, the carved oak pulpit in the Louis XV style, the Crowned Virgin, and the Chapel of the Sacred Heart with its marble work. The cathedral’s crypt is one of the largest in France, measuring 128 meters long and 42 meters wide; it is also a must-see during your visit.