Souvenir bottle with medicinal water from Lourdes, France, maker not marked, possibly French, 2013. This bottle was purchased empty on 4th or 5th July 2013 from one of the innumerable small shops in Lourdes, France, and filled by hand later that day at one of the spigots at the base of the Rock of Massabielle, just to the east of the miraculous Grotto. The metal plaque on the bottle shows a representation of Our Lady of Lourdes above the word ‘Lourdes’. Author and maker unknown.

Lourdes is the site of a Marian apparition (apparition of the Virgin Mary), witnessed by fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. The apparition instructed Bernadette to ask for a chapel to be built at the site. Today, millions of pilgrims visit the sacred site every year.