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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame-des-Accoules, located in the eponymous district of Marseilles (2nd arrondissement), was a medieval collegiate in southern Gothic style. Its name would come from its arch structure (per anglos and arcuatim constructa), although some associate with an ancient nearby spring feeding a stream towards the port. Built according to tradition on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Minerva, it was mentioned in 1033 under the supervision of the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur, then attached to Saint-Victor in 1060. Reconstructed in 1205 and probably in the 14th century, it had five spans marked by bow-buttons, two superimposed sanctuaries, and a gap on the climb of the Accoules.

During the Revolution, the church became a symbol of the Marseille federalist insurrection against the Convention. After the defeat of the federalists in 1793, a decree of 6 January 1794 ordered its demolition, carried out between 1794 and 1808 by the entrepreneur J.-Ch. Caillol. Only the bell tower, spared for its public clock, and the back wall with ogival traces survived. Ranked a historic monument in 1964, this vestige recalls the magnitude of the original building (50 m long, 20 m wide, naves 10-17 m high).

The post-revolutionary religious restoration began in 1820 with the development of a crypt and a rock calvary, inspired by the Abbé de Forbin-Janson after a trip to Palestine. A new church, centered with dome in the image of the Pantheon, was built between 1824 and 1826 to the right of the Calvary, on the plans of the unknown architect. Consecrated in 1828 under the name Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours, it became the seat of the Missionaries of Provence, founded by Eugene de Mazenod, who preached there in Provençal. Damaged in 1940, it was restored in 1951 and then between 2007 and 2013, with the reconstruction of the dome and pipeline of the ancient spring.

The history of the church is also marked by tragic episodes, such as the sorcery trial of parish priest Louis Gaufridy in 1610. Accused by two Ursuline nuns from Aix-en-Provence, he was burned alive in 1611, a matter which had a national impact. The site, a pilgrimage site in the 19th century, today embodies the religious, political and architectural strata of Marseilles, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era.

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