Chapelle Notre-Dame du Mai, Chapel at Cap Sicié, Six-Fours-les-Plages, France

The Chapelle Notre-Dame du Mai is a chapel at the 352-metre summit of the Cap-Sicié massif in Six-Fours-les-Plages. Its weathered grey-beige facade has a rounded gable, a small circular window with a white statue on a bracket below it, and three pointed-arch openings: a dark double door flanked by two blind arches. A tall stone cross on a stepped base stands to the left behind an iron fence, and broad stone steps lead up to the entrance.

A watchtower or farot stood here by 1302, its fires signalling the number of hostile ships in sight; the present tower dates from 1589. In 1625 lightning struck the keeper's hut and the tower, sparing the keeper, and the penitents of old Six-Fours had a cross planted and a first chapel built under the name Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Garde. It was enlarged in 1633, with a hermitage and cistern added.

The chapel keeps close to 900 ex-votos, about 650 of them marble plaques, plus framed texts, tapestries, boat models and some 75 small paintings. Votive lamps replaced candles because smoke was degrading the paintings. In May, a rosary is held at 15:00 and Mass at 16:00; on Sundays and feast days, Mass is at 10:00 and 16:00.

The chapel stands at the highest point of the Cap-Sicié massif, reached on foot by the walking route linking Fabrégas in La Seyne-sur-Mer with Le Brusc in Six-Fours-les-Plages. The summit is dry and sunny, so carry water and sun protection. The building is small and its ex-votos fill the interior; the shop next door sells devotional objects and booklets in several languages.

The summit's watchtower, built in 1589, kept a fire whose number of flames signalled how many suspect ships were in sight; a plaque at its foot reproduces the 1302 archival text. In 1625 lightning struck the keeper's hut and partly the tower, sparing the keeper, prompting the penitents of old Six-Fours to raise a cross here.