MOST MAGNIFICENT CHURCH BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD

Las Lajas Cathedral

Las Lajas Sanctuary is a minor basilica church located in the southern Colombian Department
of Nariño, municipality of Ipiales and built inside the canyon of the Guáitara River.
The present church was built-in Gothic Revival style in 1949. The name Laja comes from the
name of a type of flat sedimentary rock similar to shale.
The inspiration for the church’s creation was a result of a miraculous event in 1754 when an
Amerindian named Maria Mueces and her deaf-mute daughter Rosa were caught in a very
strong storm.
The two sought refuge between the gigantic Lajas, when to Maria Mueces’s surprise, her mute
daughter, Rosa exclaimed “the mestiza is calling me…” and pointed to the lightning-illuminated
silhouette over the laja. This apparition of the Virgin Mary caused pilgrimage to this location,
with occasional miraculous cases of healing reported. The image on the stone is still visible
today.
The existence of a shrine in this location was recorded in the accounts of friar Juan de Santa
Gertrudis’s journey through the southern region of the New Kingdom of Granada between 1756
and 1764. The first shrine was built here in the middle of 18th century from straw and wood. It
was replaced with a new, larger shrine in 1802, which in turn was extended and connected to
the opposite side of canyon with a bridge.
Current church was built-in the time period from January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1949, with
donations from local churchgoers. It rises 100 m high from the bottom of canyon and is
connected with 50 m tall bridge to the opposite side of the canyon.