Basilique Saint-Sauveur de Rocamadour, Minor basilica in Rocamadour, France.
The Basilique Saint-Sauveur is a limestone church built between the 11th and 13th centuries in a Romano-Gothic transitional style, with two naves set against the cliff on the west and a flat-tile roof. Its lower 12th-century crypt, once holding the relics of Saint Amadour, has a quadripartite vault carried by a large transverse arch. The Chapel of Notre-Dame adjoins the south wall, and a stone staircase with a balustrade leads up to the round-arched portal.
A papal bull of Paschal II in 1105 mentions a church of Sainte-Marie or Notre-Dame. After the intact body presented as Saint Amadour was found in 1166, the religious city was built and the church became a collegiate. The bishops of Cahors began restoring the decaying sanctuary in 1842; Abbé Chevalt led the first campaign from 1858 to 1860, starting with the crypt and Saint-Sauveur, whose roof was rebuilt and whose south wall leaned 30 cm under the vaults' thrust. Pie X made it a minor basilica in March 1913.
The Marian pilgrimage of Rocamadour, mentioned in a papal bull of 1105, drew pilgrims here through the Middle Ages. The relics of Saint Amadour were placed in the right apse in 2016, and a wooden mezzanine added in the 19th century enlarged the space for crowds of pilgrims.
Access is by a stone staircase rising from the second level of the parvis, the terrace above the village; the two naves are set against the cliff on the west. The south wall leans about thirty centimetres from the thrust of the vaults, a defect noted before the 1858 restoration. The Notre-Dame chapel adjoins the south wall.
The organ built by Jean Daldosso and inaugurated in November 2013 has a boat-shaped case. The relics of Saint Amadour, removed long ago, were reinstalled in the right apse in 2016. In the choir, a gilded wooden 18th-century relief of the Assumption sits below a 16th-century polychrome wooden Christ.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,815 contributors worldwide.