The French Marian pilgrimage site of Lourdes is reopening its baths after they were closed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Five of the total of 18 pilgrimage pools for bathing in spring water should be able to be used again from mid-August, the French newspaper "La Croix" reported on Thursday, citing the pilgrimage management.
"Not everyone will be able to get into the baths yet, but we hope to be able to make 2,000 baths a day possible," said Father Sébastien Antoni, director of the French national pilgrimage to Lourdes.
On the occasion of the 151st national pilgrimage of the French to the pilgrimage site in the Pyrenees from 12 to 16 August, some of the pilgrimage pools are to be made accessible again.
Around 7,000 pilgrims are expected to take part in the pilgrimage.
According to the newspaper report, work was carried out on the circulation system and the water treatment plant before the upcoming reopening.
Since the closure of the baths due to the coronavirus crisis, immersion in the Lourdes water has been replaced by a so-called "water gesture".
This consisted of washing the face and hands with the water and drinking from the spring in Lourdes.
The water in Lourdes is said to have a healing effect.
The Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to the young girl Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto in Lourdes in 1858. She is also said to have caused a spring to burst out of the ground.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have made a pilgrimage to Lourdes every year, many of them hoping to be cured of illnesses.