Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule
MonumentHidden Treasure
Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule, located in Verdelais (Gironde), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Verdelais, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.5896, -0.2463
- Mérimée Reference
- PA33000031
At the heart of the Verdelais pilgrimage, this votive fountain and its group of six sandstone-ceramic statues recount a moving medieval legend: the mule of Isabelle de Foix guiding the rediscovery of a Virgin hidden since 1357.
History
On the Gironde hillside of Verdelais, in the benevolent shadow of the Notre-Dame basilica, stands a sculpted ensemble of rare singularity: the votive fountain and the commemorative group known as the Pas de la Mule. This site of popular devotion, listed as a Historic Monument in 2010, combines 19th-century ceramic art with a deeply-rooted Marian legend, offering visitors an experience at the crossroads of heritage, the sacred and the picturesque. What makes this collection truly unique is its material: stoneware ceramics. At a time when monumental sculpture was more often expressed in limestone or bronze, the sculptor Clerc chose this industrial and resistant material, capable of rendering with striking precision the expressions and draperies of the six figures that make up the group. The votive fountain, integrated into the ensemble, keeps alive the link between water, healing and faith that has structured the spiritual geography of the pilgrimage for centuries. The visitor experience is one of slow immersion in authentic popular devotion. Around the sculpted group, signs of fervour are everywhere: votive offerings, flowers, candles. Visitors and fervent pilgrims alike read the same story, that of a Virgin rediscovered thanks to the faithfulness of an animal and a woman, two humble beings to whom tradition has bestowed an unexpected grace. The setting amplifies the emotion. Verdelais dominates the slopes of the Sauternes and Val de Garonne regions, in this southern Gironde where the vines, the morning mists and the golden afterglow create a landscape that is almost Tuscan in its gentleness. Toulouse-Lautrec is buried in the nearby cemetery, a reminder that this place inspired great minds as much as it consoled simple hearts.
Architecture
The Pas de la Mule commemorative group is a set of six statues created in stoneware-ceramics, a material characteristic of religious sculpture in the second half of the 19th century. Stoneware, obtained by firing a mixture of clay and fine sand at high temperatures, offers exceptional resistance to weathering, a dense texture and a surface that can faithfully imitate limestone or adopt its own colours. The sculptor Clerc exploited all its qualities to expressively render the figures in the scene: the deferential posture of Isabelle de Foix, the immobile sturdiness of the mule, the gravity of the witnesses to the miraculous discovery. The votive fountain that accompanies the group is in keeping with the tradition of Marian devotional fountains found at all French pilgrimage sites: a masonry basin fed by a spring, surmounted or flanked by a niche or aedicule housing a saintly figure. At Verdelais, the fountain and sculpted group form a coherent whole in which water and stone interact to embody the founding episode of the sanctuary. The fact that it is set on the hill, in the vegetation of the pilgrimage site, reinforces the contemplative and immersive character of the whole, designed to be discovered during a devotional stroll rather than admired in a frontal and monumental way.
Related Figures
Isabelle de Foix — Dame médiévale dont la mule, selon la tradition, aurait localisé la statue de la Vierge cachée, personnage central de la légende fondatrice du Pas de la MuleClerc — Sculpteur auteur des six statues en grès-céramique du groupe commémoratif, réalisées en 1860Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec — Peintre post-impressionniste natif d'Albi, dont la famille possédait le château Malromé à Saint-André-du-Bois, et qui repose dans le cimetière de Verdelais, témoignant de l'attachement de l'artiste à cette colline girondine
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule located?
Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule is located in Verdelais, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule built?
Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule open to visitors?
Site de pèlerinage de Verdelais : Fontaine votive et groupe commémoratif en grès-céramique dits du Pas de la Mule is currently closed to visitors.