In front of you, on top of Fourvière, two shrines stand side by side: the small Chapel of Saint-Thomas, with the golden Virgin on its bell tower, and the great white basilica built at the end of the 19th century. A promise links them both.

1The aldermen's vow

In the 17th century, plague struck Lyon again and again; the epidemic of 1628 was the most devastating. In 1643, as a new wave threatened the surrounding villages, the provost of the merchants and the aldermen pledged to climb Fourvière in procession every year on 8 September and offer a gold écu and seven pounds of white wax if the city was spared. Lyon escaped, and the vow is still renewed every September.

According to tradition, the coussin de Lyon, the city's green sweet, recalls the silk cushion on which that offering was carried.

2The night of the candles

In 1852 Joseph-Hugues Fabisch's golden Virgin, 5.6 metres tall, was placed on the bell tower. Its inauguration, planned for 8 September, was delayed by a Saône flood until 8 December. That day, bad weather threatened to cancel the celebrations and, as the story goes in Lyon, residents put little candles in their windows. So began the custom of the 'lumignons' of 8 December, which has grown into today's Fête des Lumières.

The basilica came later: in 1870, during the war with Prussia, a sanctuary was promised if Lyon was spared. Work began in 1872 to designs by Pierre Bossan, and it was consecrated in 1896. Lyon people fondly call it 'the upside-down elephant'.

3What to look for

  • The golden Virgin, on the chapel's bell tower, to the left.
  • The four towers: the elephant's 'legs'.
  • The viewpoint, from where you can see both hills and both rivers.
Gilded statue of the Virgin on the bell tower of the Fourvière chapel, against the sky
Fabisch's golden Virgin, put in place in 1852.

Documented

The aldermen's vow dates from 1643 and is renewed every 8 September; Fabisch's Virgin was inaugurated on 8 December 1852 and the basilica was built between 1872 and 1896.

Oral tradition

That the Fête des Lumières grew out of spontaneous candles in 1852, and that the coussin de Lyon recalls the offering's cushion, are traditional accounts.

Sources and credits

Fondation Fourvière, official website of the shrine; Ville de Lyon, official Fête des Lumières website; French Wikipedia, 'Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière' and 'Vœu des échevins de Lyon'.

Photos:

  • The white Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière with its four towers, on top of the hill above the trees: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0.
  • Gilded statue of the Virgin on the bell tower of the Fourvière chapel, against the sky: Romainbehar, Dominio público.

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