La Vierge du Puy en version anglaise

Voici la version anglaise d'un article que j'avais publié et que travelfranceonline a adapté.

Encore merci

Notre-Dame-de-France statue in figures

Notre-Dame-de-France was cast with the bronze recovered from the Russian cannons captured at the Battle of Sebastopol, a gift from Napoleon III.

Construction was quite a challenge, though, because of its monumental proportions.

A life-size plaster prototype was first built in order to define the assembly joints of the different parts, as it couldn’t be cast in one piece.

Notre-Dame-de-France is therefore made of 105 cast iron pieces assembled together with 900 large bolts and various parts!

The outside of the mould produced from this prototype was made of silica and compacted clay, the inside of sand and resin.

The 16m tall statue is placed on a 6,70m high pedestal made from arkhose stone.

The whole monument has a circumference of 17m.

This will give you an idea of its exceptional size: Our Lady’s hand is 1,56m long and the Child Jesus'head has a circumference of 4,80m and weighs 1.1 tons.

The statue weighs 110 tons and the pedestal 680, so a total of 835 tons; both are hollow.

The pedestal's interior is laid out over 3 floors opened with windows that boast spectacular views of the city and the area.

Finally, a 33-step staircase serves each floor and leads to a 58-step staircase serving the interior of the statue.

From there you climb a 16-bar ladder to reach Our Lady’s crown.

The statue and its pedestal were classified Historical Monument in 1997.

The full restoration, carried out in 2012, led to the re-opening of the staircases that were closed to the public for years for safety reasons.

Notre-Dame-de-France is one of the most visited monuments in Haute-Loire.

It indeed attracts nearly 90,000 visitors each year.

Le Puy-en-Velay - Department of Haute-Loire
Coordinates Notre-Dame-de-France: Lat 45.047619 - Long 3.885211