Where, for two thousand years, Provence has kept the memory of one of the greatest figures of Christendom.
Aura Magdalene opens up Mary Magdalene in Provence and across France, on the land where one of the oldest Christian traditions in the West was born.
We tell the story of a figure, we bring back to life the places that hold her memory, and we turn every stage of the way into a story. So that travelling becomes a way of understanding, of feeling, and of connecting with a history two thousand years deep.
An Aura Provence signature
According to a tradition alive for close to two thousand years, Mary Magdalene fled Palestine after the death of Christ and landed on the Camargue coast, at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Beside her in the boat: Martha and Lazarus, Maximinus, Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome, Sarah and other companions of Jesus.
The group scatters to preach the gospel. Martha reaches Tarascon, Maximinus heads for Aix. Mary Magdalene preaches in Marseille alongside her brother Lazarus, the first bishop of the city, before withdrawing for the rest of her life to the cave of the Sainte-Baume.
Her tomb, kept at Saint-Maximin in a listed basilica, is regarded as the third tomb of Christendom, after Jerusalem and Rome.
Her figure crosses the centuries and escapes every frame: present in all four gospels, described by the apocryphal texts as a disciple who received particular teaching from Jesus, celebrated by Provençal legend, painted by the greatest masters. We tell all of it — the sources, the tradition, the legends, the differing views.
Eight major sites, one single path, two thousand years of living memory.
01Saintes-Maries-de-la-MerThe legendary landing
02ArlesThe Roman city
03TarasconIn the footsteps of Saint Martha
04MarseilleAlongside Lazarus
05Aix-en-ProvenceThe memory of Saint Maximinus
06The Sainte-BaumeThe cave of her final years
07Saint-MaximinThe basilica and the tomb
08CotignacThe village of the apparitionsIn a small group or tailor-made, demanding journeys led by a leading guide-lecturer.
Signature tour
Coming soon6 nights · 7 days · 15 people maximum
Three cities of art as bases (Arles, Marseille, Aix), a trilingual guide-lecturer, hotels and tables chosen on the ground. From the Camargue shore to the summit of the Sainte-Baume.
Tailor-made
From 1 to 11 days · 2 to 12 people
For families, couples, groups of friends or communities. A single day or a long itinerary, in Provence or more widely across France. A journey designed with you.
A reference document to understand everything before you set off: the sources, the Provençal tradition, the history of each site, and our advice for preparing your journey. Free to download.
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We are passionate about Provence, about history, and about Mary Magdalene above all. It is that shared passion that gave rise to Aura Magdalene, with one simple conviction: this story, among the finest in the West, deserves to be told with rigour, beauty and generosity.
Aura Magdalene is a signature of Aura Provence, a Marseille-based travel company founded by Gabriel Hodoul and Hugo Crouet, committed to bringing the region to life differently. Our tours are designed and led with state-certified guide-lecturers who devote their work to Mary Magdalene and to sacred Provence.
No. They are cultural and heritage journeys. No religious practice is organised and we promise no awakening. But each traveller is free to feel, inwardly, whatever these two-thousand-year-old places stir in them.
A question, an idea, a journey to imagine? We reply within 48 hours, with no obligation.
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