The Notre-Dame Church of Oloron-Sainte-Marie!

Posted in Europe, France

I continue to update and show you some that I may consider off the beaten path places and they are worth a detour while visiting France. I bring to you the Notre Dame Church of lovely  Oloron-Sainte-Marie. I passed by it many times and once in town walking by saw it again and this time went in ; a pleasant surprise. I have come by the city often usually in my ways to Spain, but lately been stopping by to see a bit of the town. This Notre Dame Church is one of the things to see there. The church is located at Place Gambetta.Hope you enjoy the post as I.

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Let me tell you a bit of history as I like it

In 1844, the inhabitants of the Notre-Dame district asked the city council to build a more decent place of worship than the chapel of St. John the Baptist, which became a parish Church in 1826. The town agreed to provide the land to build the new Church while the parishioners financed its construction. The Notre Dame Church is Gothic with many borrowings from Romanesque art. It consists of a central nave along two aisles, a transept and a choir flanked by two chapels in apsidiole , Chapel of the Sacré-Coeur and Chapelle Saint-Pierre, the apse ends with a vault in the cul de furnace adorned with the fresco of the coronation of the Virgin .The steeple-tower rises to 52 meters. It is constructed of hard stones of Louvie. The first stone was laid in 1869 for the new Church with setbacks during the construction led to the resignation of the architect and the stoppage of the works for a dozen years. The work resumed and the Church was consecrated in 1893.

A bit on the description of the Notre Dame Church

The statues inside the church are of St Vincent de Paul gathering abandoned children, 19C, a work from the altarpiece of the old hospital; First Communion in the Trinity , end 19C.  Assumption of the Virgin, mid 19C; and Adoration of the shepherds, 19C. The important painted decoration was mainly made between 1895 and 1899 . For the choir a fresco and 25 strengthened canvases distributed in the choir and the transept on the theme of the Life of the Virgin. The coronation of the Virgin is placed in the axis of the apse.

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The Chapel of the Sacré-Coeur was decorated with a fresco with 8 strengthened canvases. In the Chapel of St. Peter, a fresco was executed. Most of the stained glass windows are made to order including the nice ones at the Chapel of Saint Peter and the Chapel of the Sacred Heart.  The organ was created in 1851 by Vincent Cavaillon-Coll , the elder brother of Aristide. It was first carried out for the Capuchin church before being transferred to the Church of Notre-Dame at the end of the 19C.

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Some webpages as usually from me to help you plan your trip are :

The Pyrénées Béarnaise tourist office on the Notre Dame Church:  https://www.pyrenees-bearnaises.com/offres/eglise-notre-dame-oloron-sainte-marie-fr-2227858/

The Pyrénées Atlantique dept 64 tourist office on the Notre Dame Church: https://www.tourisme64.com/en/activities/oloron-sainte-marie/PCUAQU064FS00062-eglise-notre-dame/

The city of Oloron Sainte Maire on its heritage::  https://www.oloron-ste-marie.fr/mes-services/culture-et-patrimoine/musees-symposium/

A lovely territory to come in and of course the car is king, to see more of the wonderful Bearnaise architecture and its sauce! and wines! ,its chocolate, and history of a region within a region. Oloron-Sainte-Marie is nice. The tourist office in town is located at Allées du Comte de Tréville near the gave d’Aspe river, and the jardin public. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Church Notre Dame of Oloron Sainte Marie as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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