Vierge au parasol, Religious statue in Sainte-Rose, France

The Vierge au parasol is a religious statue of the Virgin Mary holding an iron parasol, located near Notre-Dame-des-Laves church in Sainte-Rose. It stands at a viewpoint overlooking the coastal landscape and forms a distinctive visual anchor for this site.

In 1896 the Leroux couple brought the statue back from Lourdes and placed it on their fields at Bois-Blanc. During the 1897 eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise, a lava flow reportedly split 25 metres before the statue, which was venerated as protection against eruptions. Destroyed in a 1961 eruption, it was replaced in 1963 by a larger blue-and-white statue near the former site, moved in 2002 to Notre-Dame-des-Laves, damaged by vandalism in 2014 and 2015, and later placed inside the church.

The site serves as a gathering place for religious observances that reinforce community bonds among residents. The name refers to the depiction of Mary holding a parasol, an unusual iconographic motif that holds special meaning in local devotion.

The statue now stands inside Notre-Dame-des-Laves church in Piton Sainte-Rose, not at the Grand Brûlé roadside car park on National Highway 2. The church itself was spared by a lava flow in 1977 that stopped just short of it. Visitors enter the church to see the statue; the repaired figure was moved indoors after the 2014 and 2015 vandalism.

The 1897 lava flow from Piton de la Fournaise reportedly split 25 metres before the statue, leaving it intact; the iron parasol it holds is read as a sign of protection. A 1961 eruption destroyed that statue, and a larger blue-and-white replacement was placed nearby in 1963.