LOULÉ, a town of southern Portugal, in the district of Faro (formerly the province of Algarve); beautifully situated in an inland hilly district, 10 m. N.N.W. of the seaport of Faro and 5 m. from São João da Venda on the Lisbon-Faro railway. Pop. (1900) 22,478. Apart from Lisbon, Oporto and Braga, Loulé is the most populous town in the kingdom. It is surrounded by walls and towers dating from the Moorish period. The neighbouring church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade is a favourite resort of pilgrims. Basket-making is the principal industry; leather, porcelain and various products of the palm, agave and esparto grass are also manufactured. LOURDES, a town of south-western France in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées, at the foot of the Pyrenees, 12 m. S.S.W. of Tarbes on the main line of the Southern railway between that town and Pau. Pop. (1906) 7228. Lourdes is divided into an old and a new town by the Gave de Pau, which at this point leaves the valley of Argelès and turns abruptly to the west. The old quarter on the right bank surrounds on three sides a scarped rock, on which stands the fortress now used as a prison. Its large square keep of the 14th century is the chief survival of feudal times. Little is left of the old fortifications except a tower of the 13th or 14th century, surmounting a gateway known as the Tour de Garnabie. The old quarter is united with the new town by a bridge which is continued in an esplanade leading to the basilica, the church of the Rosary and the Grotto, with its spring of healing water. The present fame of Lourdes is entirely associated with this grotto, where the Virgin Mary is believed in the Roman Catholic world to have revealed herself repeatedly to a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. A statue of the Virgin stands on a rock projecting above the grotto, the walls of which are covered with crutches and other votive offerings; the spot, which is resorted to by multitudes of pilgrims from all quarters of the world, is marked by a basilica built above the grotto and consecrated in 1876. In addition the church of the Rosary, a rich building in the Byzantine style, was erected in front of and below the basilica from 1884 to 1889. Not far from the grotto are several other caves, where prehistoric remains have been found. The Hospice de Notre-Dame de Douleurs is the chief of the many establishments provided for the accommodation of pilgrims. Lourdes is a fortified place of the second class; and is the seat of the tribunal of first instance of the arrondissement of Argelès. There are marble and slate quarries near the town. The pastures of the neighbourhood support a breed of Aquitaine cattle, which is most highly valued in south-western France.