Notre-Dame du Laus, Compostela
In search of spirituality
15 minutes from Gap - discover the Notre-Dame du Laus sanctuary - a Catholic spiritual site in the Southern Alps.
It originates from apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a shepherdess, Benoite Rencurel, between 1664 and 1718.
Open to everyone, it welcomes people who want to take time for prayer and healing. Sessions, pilgrimages and large gatherings are organized regularly. The spiritual animation is provided by priests of the Diocese of Gap and Embrun, Benedictine Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre and a team of lay people.
More than 170,000 French and foreign visitors come to the "Laus" every year: individuals or groups, families, young people...
An ancient pilgrimage route, the Via Domitia (GR 653 D), passes through Notre-Dame du Laus, making the sanctuary an ideal stopping place on the way to Santiago de Compostela or Rome...
Pilgrims from the Alps can use the GR 653D, approved three years ago, which links Montgenèvre to Arles, the missing link between Rome and Santiago de Compostela. A path recreated at the initiative of the Friends of Santiago de Compostela with the French Hiking Federation. Its objective: to respect as much as possible the historic road, the old Roman Domitia road. Knowing that the topography of the area has since changed considerably: the Serre-Ponçon lake did not exist at the time, for example.
The GR passes through Montgenèvre, Les Vigneaux, L'Argentière-la-Bessée, Mont-Dauphin, Réotier, Châteauroux-les-Alpes, Embrun, Boscodon, Savines-le-Lac, Saint-Apollinaire, Chorges, Montgardin, le Laus, Gap, Tallard, Venterol before continuing towards the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
This trail is maintained by the Friends of Santiago de Compostela and the French Hiking Federation.
