On Tuesday morning, the local councils of Thurey and Lessard-en-Bresse were informed that the Libaux grotto had recently been vandalised. This is at least the third time in ten years that the Libaux grotto, built in Lessard-en-Bresse after the Second World War and modelled on the grotto in Lourdes, has been vandalised. It was built in honour of the villages that were spared during the war.
Most of the statues of the Virgin Mary were decapitated, and the altar and several commemorative plaques were destroyed. Other frames and objects that had been placed there over time were also broken or knocked over. ‘The gendarmerie arrived shortly before noon to assess the situation. I will file a report on Wednesday morning,’ explains the mayor. ‘This is becoming unbearable. This is a religious site. This is not graffiti, this is vandalism. You would almost think they had trampled the place underfoot!’
As a reminder, the Libaux grotto, built after the Second World War in honour of the villages spared by the war, has been vandalised at least twice in the last ten years: in 2015 with graffiti and in 2018 with destruction and a small fire. As the land belongs to the municipality, volunteers have to cover the costs of repairing the site.