Church of Notre-Dame in Libercourt - Discover this open and welcoming religious building

Church | 1881 | Neogothic | Catholic Church

Parking space Toilets Organ Pilgrimage site

Map

Opening hours

01 January - 31 December
Mon
Tue 10.00 - 11.00
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

The installation of a glass door in the forecourt allows you to see the interior of the church outside opening hours: from March 1 to October 1, Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 6 pm.

Opening on August 15 from 10 am to 5 pm on the occasion of the Procession.

Description

It was in the heart of this forest in 1150, that a young shepherd, calling his flock, threw his crook and discovered, hidden in the trunk of a willow tree, a statue of the Virgin. Hit in the eye by the crook, the statue was “bleeding”, but gave forth a sweet perfume of roses, holding the Infant Jesus on her breast, with only His head visible. Pleased with his find, the young man decided to take the statue and show it to the village, but on his arrival he discovered that the statue had disappeared from his bag, and so he returned to the place of his find .

On several occasions, the change of place of the statue to another site, ended in failure., particularly during the transfer to the church of Carvin, the next village: the statue always came back to its departure point. This willow trunk and hole became a place of devotion and prayer where the first chapel was built in the 12th century, and which is still visible today, behind the actual church, rue du Cimetière.

A few hundred meters from this first building, a second chapel was built in the 16th century by François de Melun, Lord of Epinoy. It was immortalised by Adrien de Cröy in 1610 in his Albums. During the French Revolution, this chapel was emptied of its ornaments and a part of its furnishings, and the original statue disappeared, replaced by a copy which can still be seen above the main altar today. Each year, on the 15th August, the statue takes part in a procession, starting from the chapel, rue du Cimetière and ending at the church of Notre Dame.

In the 19th century, the territory is marked by the development of the mining industry, causing the massif arrival of a new population (mainly Polish), and the number of inhabitants rose to nearly 10,000. The reconstruction of a third building with the name of Notre Dame, was started in 1881, under the direction of the architect Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier (father of Louis-Marie Cordonnier,) who placed this church perpendicularly to the previous one, using in this manner, some of its elements such as the big stained glass window on the right side. Within, the neo-gothic architecture and the furnishings, whether old or 19th century, mix well and form a harmonious ensemble worthy of interest, such as the baptismal fonts in the second chapel, the main altar with the statue of the Virgin or the beam across the church called a ‘beam of glory’, rarely preserved.

In 2012, the Mining area in which the community of Libercourt is situated was listed as World Patrimony by UNESCO.