Place your building under the protection of Mary!

The Madonnas of Lyon Association (Les Madones de Lyon) brings to life the Marian tradition of this French city. Its mission is to invite homeowners and housing authorities to reinstall statues of the Virgin Mary in the many niches built for that purpose, most of the time empty, in the facades of buildings. The association has counted 200 niches to date. Some niches already have a statue, others are waiting for a Madonna to be reinstalled!

Each re-installation of a statue of Mary in a niche is a small heritage victory! Indeed, there are many steps to follow. First the homeowner associations must be contacted and asked to present this topic on their meeting agenda. "We also have put in place a very good working relationship with the city departments, who notify us when a façade renovation is scheduled. We can then get in touch with the homeowners early enough to present our initiative," says the association’s president Étienne Piquet-Gauthier, who is personally very satisfied with the positive reaction of homeowners.

By placing their building under the protection of Our Lady, homeowners implicitly recognize that they can’t control all the hazards of life. The Virgin Mary thus creates an initial opening in their hearts, through which Christ can enter!

Infocatho