Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana
White-domed Andean sanctuary above Lake Titicaca, home of Bolivia's patron image.
The sanctuary grew around a statue of the Virgin carved about 1583 by Francisco Tito Yupanqui, a descendant of the Inca Huayna Capac, first placed in an adobe chapel beside Lake Titicaca. Augustinian friars built a larger chapel between 1614 and 1618 as pilgrimage grew, and from 1669 the viceroy of Peru supported a full church, built to designs by Francisco Jiménez de Sigüenza and finished in 1679. The image was canonically crowned in 1925 and the church was raised to the rank of basilica in 1940.
The church stands on a broad walled atrium above the town, its white walls and blue-and-white tiled domes giving it a Moorish air unusual in the Andes. The carved stone portal opens into a single nave with a gilded altarpiece, behind which the camarín holds the dark cedar statue that is the patron of Bolivia. Chapels, a cloister and a small museum of votive offerings surround the courtyard. Pilgrims come throughout the year, most of all for the feast on 2 February and the celebrations in early August.
Highlights
- Statue of the Virgin carved by Francisco Tito Yupanqui about 1583
- Camarín and gilded altarpiece behind the high altar
- Tiled domes and walled atrium above Lake Titicaca
- Chapels, cloister and collection of votive offerings
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