Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels
Costa Rica's national shrine in Cartago, a Byzantine-colonial basilica and goal of the August pilgrimage.
The basilica stands on the eastern edge of Cartago, the former colonial capital of Costa Rica, on the spot where tradition holds that a girl found a small dark stone image of the Virgin and Child in 1635. A succession of churches on the site were damaged by earthquakes, most severely in 1910. The present building was begun in 1912 to designs by the Catalan-born architect Luis Llach Llagostera and completed in 1924.
Llach combined Byzantine forms with colonial detailing, producing a grey and cream exterior of arcaded galleries, small domes and a tall central tower. Inside, painted timber ceilings, carved columns and stained glass frame the shrine of La Negrita, the national patroness, whose image sits above the high altar. A spring beside the church draws pilgrims, and on 2 August each year hundreds of thousands walk the Romería from San José and beyond to reach it.
Highlights
- Shrine of La Negrita, the patroness of Costa Rica, above the high altar
- Byzantine and colonial exterior of arcades, small domes and a central tower
- Painted timber ceilings and carved interior columns
- Destination of the Romería pilgrimage each 2 August
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
