Chapelle de Notre dame du Chateau, Les Baux
12th century church situated within the castle grounds of Chateau des Baux
This Romanesque chapel was built on a rocky promontory offering visitors breathtaking views of the Alpilles.
It is reached by a path which offers a fantastic panorama of the Rhone valley. In pre-Roman times, it was erected on the site an oppidum (the main settlement in the area). From the 14th century, the chapel became a place of pilgrimage: it contains a 14th century statue of he Virgin with the Child Jesus.
Each year, the 5th Sunday after Easter, people from the Tarascon commune around Beauclaire go for Notre-Dame-du-Château to bring the statue back in triumph to St. Martha college where she is worshipped for 40 days, before returning to the chapel.
The chapel underwent some restorations, both back in 1859 and more recently in 2006.
It's free to visit.
