El Cisne basilica

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Facade of the basilica
Interior of the basilica

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Exaltation ( Spanish Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Elevación ) is a Roman Catholic church in the mountain town of El Cisne, Loja province in southern Ecuador . The pilgrimage church of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Cisne in the Diocese of Loja bears the title of a minor basilica and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary .

history

In 1594 the inhabitants of the Chayalama region in Quito had a statue of the Madonna made as a relic by the Spaniard Diego de Robles. The cedar wood figure is almost two meters tall and is colorfully painted. It is said to have ended a drought upon arrival in Cisne. A sanctuary was created around the statue, for which various buildings were erected over the centuries. In El Cisne, for example, a church based on the model of the Marienkirche in the Mark Brandenburg is said to have been built in 1742 .

After the canonical coronation of the Virgin of El Cisne on September 8, 1930, construction began on the neo-Gothic church, which was completed in 1934 by Ricardo Fernández. The national shrine was later expanded in four steps for the five million pilgrims a year. Pope John Paul II elevated the church to the rank of minor basilica in 1980. The sanctuary is looked after by the Oblates of the Immaculate Virgin Mary .

basilica

The three-aisled basilica has a cruciform floor plan, in which the north-facing main facade has the same significant width as the transept. To the choir with its round apse a leading dealing in extending the low side aisles. The statue of the Madonna is the center of the main altar. The campanile stands apart from the church.

Pilgrimage

As the highlight of the year, thousands of pilgrims gather in El Cisne on August 17th to carry the statue of the Madonna to Loja in the cathedral in a three-day procession , where it will be the focus of a great celebration on September 8th. She will stay in Loja Cathedral until November 3rd, when she will be brought back to El Cisne.

Web links

Commons : Basilica of El Cisne  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora del Cisne on gcatholic.org
  2. ↑ a b c d El Cisne. In: Sakred Sites
  3. ↑ El Cisne on loja.gob.ec. Retrieved October 15, 2018 (Spanish)

Coordinates: 3 ° 51 ′ 3.1 ″  S , 79 ° 25 ′ 35.3 ″  W.