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Origin and history

The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel, known as the Marins, is a Catholic building located in Gatteville-le-Phare, in the Manche department, Normandy. Built in the 11th century, it is probably built on an earlier site of the French era, as evidenced by the Merovingian sarcophagi (VIth–VIIth centuries) discovered in 1968. As early as the 12th century, it was mentioned in a charter of Archbishop Hugues of Amiens, confirming its link with the Abbey of Montebourg.

The chapel, which has preserved its Romanesque choir decorated with figurative modillons, escapes the revolutionary destructions of 1789 thanks to the local sailors, who hide the statue of Notre-Dame in a nearby well. In 1886, a fire ravaged the choir, but the building was restored and reassigned to worship in the 20th century, after serving as a shelter for firefighters. The 11th and 14th century frescoes were rediscovered in 1968.

Classified as a historical monument in 1975, the chapel houses an 18th-century altar, a neo-Gothic statue of Notre-Dame, and remains commemorating the sinking of the three-mast La Luna in 1860. Its furniture, like primitive baptismal fonts and 16th century frescoes, reflects its rich religious and maritime past.

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