Albert Basilica

The statue of Mary and the infant Jesus designed by sculptor Albert Roze dubbed the Golden Virgin on top of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières was hit by a shell on 15 January 1915 and slumped to a near-horizontal position where it remained until 1918 when it was destroyed by further shelling. The British and French believed that the war would end on the day that the statue fell but the Germans believed that whoever knocked it down would loose the war. There were many legends surrounding the Leaning Virgin among the Germans, French, and British. The Leaning Virgin became especially familiar to the thousands of soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme, many of whom marched through Albert, which was three miles from the front line.