Nevers is a historic city and an important pilgrimage center. The tomb of St. Bernadette Soubirous, who witnessed the Marian apparitions in Lourdes.
During the Middle Ages, the city was the capital of the principality of Nivernais, a memorial of which is the Ducal Palace. Currently, it is the seat of the local government and can only be viewed from the outside and enter the main hall. A great monument of medieval architecture is the cathedral of St. Cyryka and Julita with an unusual build. It has two apses, a romanesque one from the west and a gothic one from the east. This is the result of the fact that the temple was created by joining two churches from different eras.
What attracts crowds of pilgrims to Nevers is the convent of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, which Bernadette Soubirous entered in 1866. As a child, she experienced the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes, which is now the most important shrine in France. She stayed in the monastery for 13 years as Marie Bernard and after her death she was buried in the monastery garden. Her body did not decompose and was exhumed on the occasion of her beatification, and is now exposed to the public in the convent chapel.
