Las Lajas Sanctuary: History and Architecture of Las Lajas Sanctuary

Las Lajas Sanctuary is a Roman Catholic basilica church in Colombia that is built inside the Guáitara River canyon. It is also known as Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de las Lajas, which translates to "the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Las Lajas," and Santuario de Las Lajas, which means “shrine of stone slabs.”

The Columbian church is near the city of Ipiales, in the state of Nariño on the border with Ecuador. Las Lajas Sanctuary received a coronation from the Catholic Church in 1952 and was designated as a minor basilica in 1994.

The church, first built in the eighteenth century, has been remodeled and rebuilt over the centuries.

• Miracles: In 1754, a woman named Maria Mueses de Quinones and her daughter Rosa were caught in a storm and sought refuge in a cave in the Guáitara River canyon, where they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary on the wall. The site became a place of pilgrimage, with visitors claiming the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the stone wall cured their ailments.
• First shrine: The first version of the Las Lajas Sanctuary was a simple shrine for the Virgin Mary made from straw and wood in 1754.
• Expansion: Over the next two centuries, the sanctuary was rebuilt and expanded. In the 1800s, a brick chapel, a bridge, and an artificial waterfall, which still runs today, were added to the site.
• Present Church: The current Las Lajas Cathedral, funded by local donations, was built between 1916 and 1949. It was designed and overseen by Ecuadorians Gualberto Pérez and Lucindo Espinosa, an engineer and architect, respectively.

Las Lajas Sanctuary is an example of Gothic Revival style, with a vaulted ceiling, buttresses, and spires. The inside of the church is white with gold trim, and it is ninety feet long and fifty feet wide.

Las Lajas Sanctuary is 330 feet tall from the bottom of the Guáitara Canyon against one side of the canyon on a hill. A 160-foot-tall bridge over the Guáitara River connects the church to the other side of the canyon. The entrance to the church is 150 feet over the canyon, and from above, the roof of Las Lajas Sanctuary resembles a Catholic cross.

Notable details of the Las Lajas Sanctuary include:

1. 1. Image of Our Lady of Las Lajas: The image of the holy Virgin is painted on the back stone wall of the present church. It depicts the Madonna with the child Jesus in her arms and Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic on either side.
2. 2. Stained glass: The windows are decorated with stained glass by Italian artist Walter Wolf.
3. 3. Bridge: The bridge features white statues of angels playing instruments on either side and has two foundational arches that are sixty-five feet long and fifty-six feet wide.

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