The towering basilica is the most recent building raised on this spot in St. Anne's honor. After the sailors' first modest wooden chapel was swept away by a flood in the 1600s, another chapel was built on higher ground. Floods, fires, and the ravages of time dispatched later buildings, until a larger structure was erected in 1887. In 1926, it, too, lay in ruins, gutted by fire. The present basilica is constructed in stone, following an essentially neo-Romanesque scheme, and was consecrated on July 4, 1976. Inside the front doors, look for the two columns dressed with racks of canes -- presumably from people cured and no longer in need of assistance -- that go 9m (30 ft.) high.
The church and the whole town of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré are particularly busy on days of saintly significance: the first Sunday in May, mid- through late July, the fourth Sunday in August, and early September. In the summer, there is a daily candlelight procession at 8:15pm.
Other parts of the shrine include the Way of the Cross, lined with life-size bronze figures, on the hillside opposite the basilica; the Scala Santa Chapel (1891); the Memorial Chapel (1878), with a bell tower and altar from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, respectively; and the Musée Sainte-Anne (contributions accepted).
Also in the village is a building called the Cyclorama, which houses a 14m-high (45-ft.), 360-degree painting depicting old Jerusalem at the moment of Christ's crucifixion ("relive the sight," says the brochure). Open from mid-April to October, admission is C$8 (US$6.95/£3.45) for adults, C$7 (US$6.10/£3) for seniors 65 and older, and C$5 (US$4.35/£2.15) for children 6 to 16.
