Although human occupation of the site began long ago and the city had seen its first expansion from the early Middle Ages through its role as a fortified town, Lourdes has really developed since the middle of the XIXth century, from 1858 to the present day.

Between 11th February and 16th July 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared 18 times at the Massabielle Grotto to Bernadette Soubirous, a young girl of 14 from a family of millers.

Nowadays, Lourdes is the second largest site of Catholic pilgrimage in the world, after Rome.
Every year, 6 million people from 5 continents gather to be near Mary. A sign of the attention given to each of them in this place is that one hundred thousand volunteers give their time to be of service to the sick and disabled.

Lourdes, the Marian City, is also a small Pyrenean town full of charm with a very rich, natural and historic heritage: from the fortress castle to the funicular railway of the Pic du Jer to the Lourdes lake and the numerous private museums, tourist activities are numerous and high quality. Lourdes is the second biggest hotel town in France after Paris.

Finally, it is the gateway to the Pyrenees and the "Gaves Valleys": a countryside of hills and forests to the north; these valleys quickly rise into a mountain of granite and limestone of more than 3000 m. The Pyrenees National Park is a few kilometers away, as well as the exceptional sites of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre and the Gavarnie corrie and the thermal spa and winter sports resorts of Argelès-Gazost-Le Hautacam, Luz St Sauveur and Barèges-La Mongie.