The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Las Lajas-spectacular church

was built on a bridge which spans a spectacular gorge of the Guáitara River, is this gothic church. Legend has it that an image of the Virgin Mary appeared in the mid-18th century on an enormous rock above the river. Interestingly, the church has been constructed in such a way that the rock (and image) is its high altar. Pilgrims from all over Colombia and Ecuador journey here and, unsurprisingly, reports of miracles at the site are not uncommon.

Back in the eighteenth century a lady and her daughter discovered a cave with picture of Our Lady on the wall of the grotto... devotion to the image grew, a good road replaced the old trail. In the early 20th century a tasteful gothic church was built over the cave.

clipped from thingstobeseen.blogspot.com clipped from portable-parents-photos.com clipped from www.travelpod.com clipped from www.ipitimes.com picture of Our Lady on the wall of the grotto was discovered The child Jesus is in Our Lady’s arms. On one side of Our Lady is Saint Francis; on the other is Saint Dominic.