Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-fin-des-Terres

Tradition has it that the origin of this church can be traced back to the legend of Saint Veronique. In the first century AD, after the death of the Virgin Mary, Saint Veronique, Saint Amadour and Saint Martial, who had come from Palestine, landed in Soulac. Veronique then built a modest oratory in memory of the Virgin, after having evangelised the Médoc and the Bazadais. She died in Soulac and was buried in the year 70. It was probably in the 11th century, when the pilgrims of Saint James from the English lands landed in Soulac, that this Benedictine abbey was built, classified as a Historic Monument. The construction of the Romanesque church was not completed until the beginning of the 12th century. In the 18th century, erosion of the dunes caused the church to be almost completely silted up, and it was not until the mid-19th century that it was cleared. This monument is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.