In 1858, Marie-Bernarde Soubirous is alleged to have experienced several apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the town of Lourdes in southern France, which subsequently became one of the most famous Christian pilgrimage sites. Many people know of Lourdes mainly in connection with its numerous healings, which have been declared miraculous. 

According to the legendary story, the apparitions took place at the rock overhang or cave of Massabielle. To this day, it is adorned by the famous statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, depicting a young woman standing with hands clasped. She wears a flowing dress and has a veil on her head, a sash around her waist that drapes from her hands, a rosary hanging from her right hand, and two roses above her feet. The statue is white except the pale blue sash and gilded rose blossoms. The work is inscribed: QUE SOY ERA IMMACULADA COUNCEPCIOU (I am the Immaculate Conception), and was created based on the account of Marie-Bernarde Soubirous. Copies of the statue and of the cave itself are found all around the world. 

A recreation of this French pilgrimage site was also established in Pressburg, on the site of an old quarry in the former Freund estate at the upper end of Hlboká Cesta, close to the former Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows (today, a church with the same patronage) and another sacral building. The founder, Countess Gabriela Szápáry, signed the cave's founding charter on 16 July 1889. The dominant feature of the space – a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, donated by female workers from a local textile factory – was ceremoniously blessed on 18 September 1892. 

The former quarry, now urbanistically and architecturally redesigned, immediately became a popular venue for numerous public and private prayers and devotions. Believers also continue to immortalise their prayers, thanks, and confessions to the Virgin Mary through votive stone tablets with various inscriptions (they presently number more than four thousand). 

The original statue, set in a niche in the rock wall and reportedly constructed "only from cardboard and plaster", was damaged by tremors from gunfire during the Second World War. Despite initial efforts to restore it, it was soon decided that a replica would need to be produced. The parish office commissioned the artwork from the sculptor František (Fraňo) Gibala, who was simultaneously creating several sacred works for Ružomberok and Poprad. According to Gibala's proposal of 14 July 1945, the replica was to be 145 cm high, carved from white marble polished to a semi-gloss finish, partially coloured, and completed by 1 May 1946 at a price of 35,000 crowns. During the course of the work, however, the use of colour was abandoned. The completed statue, costing 75,000 crowns, was ceremoniously blessed on 1 May 1946. 

A halo with a French inscription was initially installed above Gibala's work. This was later replaced by a white three-quarter arch with the Slovak equivalent illuminated in blue: I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. This accent, renovated in 2020, remains to this day. 

Note: The original statue is probably now located on one of the side altars of the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Bratislava (popularly known as the Church of the Merciful Brothers).

PB

Research status as of 22. 12. 2023.