Skip to main content

Las Lajas Sanctuary

Las Lajas Sanctuary is a basilica church located in the southern Colombian Department of Nariño, municipality of Ipiales and built inside the canyon of the Guáitara River. The church is of Gothic revival architecture and was built from January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1949, with donations from local churchgoers, replacing an old nineteenth-century chapel. The name Laja comes from the name of a type of flat sedimentary rock similar to floor tiles found in the Andes Mountains. There was a claim that an apparition of the Virgin Mary was seen. There is now a miraculous image on a stone there. It is still possible to see this today.

image
Las Lajas Sanctuary

The reason for the church's creation is that in 1754 an Amerindian named Maria Mueces and her deaf-mute daughter Rosa were caught in a very strong storm. They found refuge between the gigantic Lajas, and to Maria Mueces's surprise, Rosa exclaimed "the mestiza is calling me..." and pointed to the lightning-illuminated 'painting' over the laja.

The oldest account was recorded in the accounts of Fray Juan de Santa Gertrudis's voyage through the southern region of the New Kingdom of Granada between 1756 and 1764. Without the light of his sight he travels through cities, fields and even villages. He walked all the way from Ecuador to Narino , Colombia begging people for money to be able to build the Las Lajas 19 century chapel after he build it he could have seen everything and everyone once again, because he believe in the virgin Mary of Las Lajas , she gave him the miracle of his sight. In 1951 the Roman Catholic Church authorized the Nuestra Señora de Las Lajas virgin, and it declared the sanctuary a minor basilica in 1954.

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nabatean City of Petra

Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourist attraction. It lies on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. Petra

Karstic Peaks Guilin

Yangshuo is located in Yangshuo Town. Surrounded by karst peaks and bordered on one side by the Li River. It is easily accessible by bus or by boat from nearby Guilin. Over the years, it has become popular with foreign backpackers. Visitors to Yangshuo can swim in the Li River or the cleaner Yu Long (Dragon River), climb one of many nearby karst peaks, hire a bicycle for a cycling trip through the karst scenery, arrange a sightseeing trip on the Li River by bamboo raft or cruise boat, or visit a number of local cave systems, including a butterfly cave. Karstic Peaks Guilin

Garajonay National Park

Laurel forest covers some 70% of this park, situated in the middle of the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands archipelago. The presence of springs and numerous streams assures lush vegetation resembling that of the Tertiary, which, due to climatic changes, has largely disappeared from southern Europe. La Gomera lies to the west of Tenerife, and is one of seven islands that make up the Canary Islands archipelago off the north-west coast of Africa in the Atlantic. The island is accessible by ferry from Tenerife. The park can be reached by road from the island's major towns and villages. Garajonay National Park