Notre Dame of Grau

This is a place of pilgrimage situated on the Saint-Gilles to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle path.

This priory sanctuary was founded by St-Sever in the 5th century and then dedicated to the worship of Saint Mary the Virgin in the 6th century. It was used until the 16th century by the monks of Saint-André Abbey in Agde and then by the monks of Saint-Thibéry Abbey.

It bears the name Notre Dame de l'Agenouillade (Our Lady of the Genuflexion) or la Genouillade (the kneeling) due to a legend that tells of the appearance of the Virgin during a tidal wave between the River Hérault and the sea. She appeared kneeling on a rock to add her prayers to those of a monk and, by a miracle, the sea fell back.

At the end of the 16th century, Henry 1st de Montmorency, supreme commander of the French armies, obtained authorisation to build a convent and church for the order of the Capuchin friars. He also built a chapel on the spot where the Virgin was said to have knelt and where the rock bearing the imprint of the Virgin's knee is enshrined.

This sanctuary was an important place of pilgrimage with, for example, 172 processions in 1612.

The central square has a statue of The Virgin of the Rock, built in 1920.