Our Lady of Lourdes Basilica, also known as Poondi Madha Basilica, is a Catholic pilgrimage centre located in Tamil Nadu, South India. It is located in Alamelupuram-Poondi, a small village located adjacent to Thirukattupalli in Thiruvaiyaru taluk of Thanjavur district. The shrine was consecrated as a Minor Basilica in 1999 by Pope John Paul II.

In the beginning of the 18th century a great Italian Jesuit missionary Rev. Fr. Constantine Joseph Beschi S.J. popularly known as "Veeramamuniver" built a church and named it as the church of "Mary Queen of Immaculate Conception". It is in the dome of this church the statue of the miraculous Lady of Poondi is placed. This miraculous statue is one of the three statues that were made in France after the apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes. Rev.Fr.Darres, MEP, brought these statues from France.

According to the available records in the Basilica archives the French Missionary Fathers ( MEP Fathers ) were taking care of the Pastoral Mission in Kumbakonam Diocese in the beginning of 20th Century. Fr. Mette Louis Jules started a Catechetical School in Alamelupuram-Poondi around the year 1900 to train Catechists.

Rev. Fr. Lourdes Xavier after being appointed as Parish Priest of Alamelupuram-Poondi on 1 September 1955, paid immediate attention to improve the condition of the Church, the central roof of which was in a bad condition and it was feared that it might collapse at any moment causing great damage. So he consulted an engineer. They wanted to demolish only the central roof without any damage to the front elevation, the doom and the altar. Fr.Lourdes Xavier was worried as it would cost too much and it would be beyond his means to find the necessary funds to reconstruct the Church. Fr.Lourdes Xavier, a great devotee of Our Lady, trusted and prayed to Our Lady of Poondi to reveal to him a way out to this problem. Inspired by an inner voice he predicted that the central roof of the church would come down on a particular day and time and it did. This is vividly remembered and described by people even today.

Simon Cardinal Lourdusamy declared the Shrine of our Lady of Poondi as a permanent pilgrimage centre of our Lady of Immaculate Conception. On 03.08.1999, the shrine was declared as Minor Basilica by Pope John Paul II.

The present structure of the shrine has a mixture of Gothic and French architectural styles. The facade above the portico has a row of statues of the Twelve Apostles, St. Francis Xavier and Fr. Constantine Joseph Beschi. The church has a relic of the True Cross, believed to be the one on which Christ was crucified.^[1]

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  Poondi Basilica View
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  Poondi Basilica pleasant View
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  Holy Land Gallery in Poondi
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• Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health
• Our Lady of Snows Basilica
• Elakurichi
• Kamanayakkanpatti
• Our Lady of Snow Kallikulam
• The Perianayagi Madha Shrine
• Villianoor
• Konankuppam

Indian Oil Petrol Bunk - Alamelupuram-Poondi Madha Kovil, Thanjavur

Saraswthi Marriage Mahall in Alamelupuram Poondi village near Poondi basilica

• GeoHack - Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes (Poondi)

• Official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Poondi Madha Basilica.

v t e Thanjavur district
District headquarters	Thanjavur
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
Region	Chola Nadu
Divisions	Kumbakonam Pattukkottai Thanjavur
Taluks	Kumbakonam Orathanadu Papanasam Pattukkottai Peravurani Thanjavur Thiruvaiyaru Budalur Thiruvidaimarudur
Revenue blocks	Ammapettai Budalur Kumbakonam Madukkur Orathanadu Papanasam Pattukkottai Peravurani Sethubhavachatram Thanjavur Thiruppanandal Thiruvaiyaru Thiruvidaimarudur Thiruvonam
Municipal corporations	Thanjavur Kumbakonam
Municipalities	Pattukkottai Adirampattinam
Rivers	Arasalar Kaveri Kollidam
History	Early Cholas Kalabhra dynasty Pallava dynasty Medieval Cholas Later Cholas Later Pandyas Delhi Sultanate Madurai Sultanate Vijayanagara Empire Thanjavur Nayaks Thanjavur Marathas Company Raj British Raj
Places of interest	Adi Kumbeswarar Temple Airavatesvara Temple Aiyarappar temple Brihadeeswarar Temple Kalyanasundaresar Temple Kampaheswarar Temple Kanjanur Mahalingeswarar Temple Manora Fort Melattur Nachiyar Koil Nagore Dargah Poondi Madha Basilica Punnainallur Mariamman Samadhi of Bodhendra Saraswathi Sarangapani Temple Saraswathi Mahal Library Sivaganga Park Suryanar Kovil Swamimalai Murugan Temple Swetha Vinayagar Temple Thanjavur Maratha Palace Thingalur Uppiliappan Temple Vasishteswarar Temple Veetrirundha Perumal Temple
Religious and monastic institutions	Trichy-Tanjore Diocese of the Church of South India Roman Catholic Diocese of Kumbakonam Roman Catholic Diocese of Tanjore Sri Sankara Mutt Sri Sridhara Ayyaval Mutt Sri Vijayendra Mutt Sri Vittal Rukmini Samsthan Thiruppanandal Adheenam
Universities	Periyar Maniammai University SASTRA University PRIST University National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Tamil University
Cities and towns People Villages

v t e Basilicas in India
Bihar	Our Lady of Divine Grace
Goa	Bom Jesus
Jharkhand	Divine Motherhood of Our Lady
Karnataka	St. Mary St. Lawrence Our Lady of Health St Antony of Padua
Kerala	St. Mary's Cathedral Santa Cruz Our Lady of Dolours Our Lady of Ransom St. Mary, Queen of Peace St. George St. Andrew's Our Lady of Snow St. Mary, Champakulam Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Joseph Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Lourdes
Maharashtra	Our Lady of the Mount
Puducherry	Sacred Heart of Jesus St Teresa
Tamil Nadu	San Thome Our Lady of Good Health Our Lady of Snows Our Lady of Lourdes Holy Redeemer Our Lady of the Holy Rosary St. Mary's Basilica Our Lady of Assumption St. John de Britto
Telangana	Our Lady of the Assumption
Uttar Pradesh	Our Lady of Graces
West Bengal	Our Lady of the Rosary
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