Rocamadour has been a major site of the Christian world since the Middle Ages. The local religious history started with the hermit Amadour, who lived as a recluse and is said to have founded a small oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The discovery of his intact body in 1166 marked the starting point for the construction of the sanctuary. Later canonized, the saint would also have carved the small statue of the Black Virgin, with supposedly miraculous properties, placed in a chapel built in the 12th century and rebuilt in 1479. Rocamadour has since welcomed thousands of pilgrims on the road to Compostela.