“The deadlines were met,” said the new mayor of Rocamadour (Lot), Jean-Baptiste Jallet, this Thursday, April 2. “The scaffolding which secures the balcony and makes it possible to collect any debris was installed, 15 meters long, with a footprint of only one meter on the large staircase, which makes it possible to cross easily, on what is the main pedestrian axis between the street and the sanctuary. This is great news for traders. HAS”
Taken on March 20, the order closing this staircase of 216 steps, which allows you to reach the square of the Marian city where the Notre-Dame chapel and its famous Black Madonna are located, was lifted this Friday, April 3 in the morning, on the eve of the weekend of Easter.
A relief as this religious festival marks the start of the tourist season in this stopover town on the way to Santiago de Compostela, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, which welcomed 1.9 million visitors in 2025. The rector of the sanctuary had even planned another route for the traditional Easter egg hunt.
Pieces of balcony overlooking the staircase threatened to collapse
It is for this reason that the councilor wanted to move quickly to carry out this operation, made necessary by the submission of a report whose conclusions showed “imminent danger”. “It was a private individual who owns a building overlooking the grand staircase who commissioned this expertise. It turns out that certain pieces of a large L-shaped balcony overlooking the staircase were in danger of collapsing,” indicates Jean-Baptiste Jallet, who therefore ensured that security measures were undertaken as quickly as possible.
Procedures complicated by the classification of the Lot site. “This went beyond the missions of the Architects of Buildings of France,” underlines the mayor, who therefore had to appeal to the administrative court of Toulouse. A commissioned expert, who came to the site on March 25, recommended a two-stage action, with securing the balcony to allow the grand staircase to reopen as quickly as possible, then an in-depth intervention on the balcony at the end of the season, in autumn-winter.
Although the attractiveness of Rocamadour is not dependent on this passage alone, the mayor wanted the grand staircase, an integral part of the pedestrian tour loop, to be reopened quickly. “We were talking about fifteen days or three weeks of intervention, but, in the end, it will have had no impact,” rejoices Jean-Baptiste Jallet, who highlights the speed of the different actors involved in the case. “Everyone reacted very quickly. The owning family initiated the expertise and had the means to put security in place. The administrative court was also very responsive. HAS”
The Lot village and its 617 inhabitants will therefore be able to approach this Easter weekend with peace of mind and welcome the numerous tourists who support, throughout the year, nearly 150 local businesses.
