Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré (Sanctuaire de Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré) lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Québec City. The soaring Gothic structure you see today was completed in 1926, but the earliest chapel to Saint Anne at the site was built in 1658. After worshippers visiting the chapel started to attribute miraculous cures to Saint Anne (the mother of the Virgin Mary), it became a favored pilgrimage site. Today an estimated half million of the faithful arrive here each year. Their numbers peak on the feast day of St. Anne, July 26.