Stained glass window of St Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, with the Black Virgin of Notre Dame de Liesse behind him, 1945, in a chapel in the Basilica of Liesse Notre Dame, built 1134 in Flamboyant Gothic style by the Chevaliers d'Eppes, then rebuilt in 1384 and enlarged in 1480 and again in the 19th century, Liesse-Notre-Dame, Laon, Picardy, France. Pilgrims flock here to worship the Black Virgin, based on Ismeria, the Soudanese daughter of the sultan of Cairo El-Afdhal, who saved the lives of French knights during the Crusades, converted to christianity and married Robert d'Eppes, son of Guillaume II of France. Picture by Manuel Cohen
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