Sanctuary of the Virgin of Socavón
Miners' sanctuary in Oruro with a colonial mine adit and museums of folklore and mining.
The church stands at the foot of the Pie de Gallo hill on the western edge of Oruro, on ground the Uru people had used for ritual before the Spanish arrived. Devotion to the Virgin of Candlemas took root among the miners of the district in the sixteenth century, and the present temple was built in 1781, rebuilt and enlarged in the nineteenth century and raised to a minor basilica. The image, known to miners as the Mamita del Socavón, was named patron of Bolivian folklore in 1994.
The sanctuary is the goal of the Carnival of Oruro, the procession of dancers that UNESCO proclaimed a masterpiece of the intangible heritage of humanity in 2001. Beside the church a colonial adit dating from about 1600 has been opened as a mining museum, with galleries, chutes, chimneys and tools left in place. Rooms above hold sacred art, archaeology from the Wankarani culture including carved stone llama heads, and a collection of carnival costumes and masks.
Highlights
- Colonial mine adit of about 1600 entered from beside the church
- Carnival costumes and masks of the diablada and morenada
- Wankarani stone llama heads in the archaeological rooms
- Image of the Virgin of Candlemas, patron of Bolivian folklore
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