Sawt Falasteen - Marseille's giant 'Good Mother' statue to gleam brighter

The virgin, holding a lively Baby Jesus in her arms, stands atop Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Watch), a church completed in 1864 on the highest hill in France's second largest city.

Known locally as the "Bonne Mere" (Good Mother), she is 11.2 metres (36.7 feet) tall and her crown towers 225 metres above the Mediterranean Sea.

She was last covered in gold leaf in 1989 but wind, sea air and industrial pollution have ravaged her shiny surface in recent years.

Architect Xavier David said he abseiled down the statue's four sides in preparation for her renovation from February to December, the latest such preservation works at the basilica.

"Finally we have reached the highest, most precious and most important point" of the church, he told AFP, elated.

"When you arrive in Marseille, you can see (the statue) from far away," he said. "Many residents have, one day or another, turned to it to find a little respite, hope or joy."

- Electroplating -

Inside the church, little model boats hang from the ceiling, votive offerings from people seeking to protect loved ones at sea.

David said artisans would be arriving in August to start covering the statue with 30,000 new leaves of gold.

With the restoration to cost around 2.8 million euros (almost $2.9 million), the Marseille diocese has appealed for donations.

Billionaire shipping magnate Rodolphe Saade, local liquor brand Pernod Ricard and the Marseille football team are among donors, with 1.3 million euros raised so far.

The diocese has also encouraged members of the public to chip in by donating 50 euros to cover the cost of a single gold leaf.

The "Bonne Mere" is the largest statue in the world to have been made using a technique called electroplating, which consists in plunging a plaster mould into a copper bath, David said.

"Some 140 years later, the statue is still perfectly intact -- as long as we give it some care every 25 to 30 years," he added.

Pope Francis visited the church in 2023 to offer prayers for sailors and migrants who lost their lives in the Mediterranean.

E.Aziz--SF-PST