Page 227 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

EASTERN CUBA  225

e Basílica del Cobre
Santiago de Cuba. Road Map F4.
@ Carretera Central 21, (22) 346 118.
Open 6:30am–6pm daily. 5 10am
Mon, 8 & 10:15am Tue–Fri, 8am Sat,
8 & 10am Sun. _ procession, 8 Sep.
The village of El Cobre, about
20 km (12 miles) west of Santiago
de Cuba, was once famous for
its copper (cobre) mines. A great
number of slaves worked here
up until 1807. Nowadays the
village is best known for Cuba’s
most famous church, the Basílica
de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad
del Cobre. Here the main attrac­
tion is a statue of the Virgen del
Cobre. This black Madonna is
richly dressed in yellow, and The striking façade of pilgrimage destination Basílica del Cobre
wears a crown encrusted with
diamonds, emeralds and rubies, This fine three­aisled church, built and two side towers crowned
with a golden halo above. She in 1926, stands on a hill, the Cerro by brick­red domes are a striking
carries a cross of diamonds and de la Cantera, which is linked to sight above the cream façade.
amethysts. The statue is kept in the village by a flight of 254 steps. The basilica is the object of
an air­conditioned glass case The elegant central bell tower pilgrimages from all over the
behind the high altar. island. In the Los Milagros
It is taken out every year on chapel, thousands of ex votos
8 September when a procession left by pilgrims are on display.
takes place to commemorate Some are rather curious, such
the Virgin’s saint’s day. The Virgen as the beards left by some of the
del Cobre was proclaimed the rebels who survived the guerrilla
protectress of Cuba in 1916 and war in the Sierra; an object
was blessed and crowned by belonging to Castro’s mother;
Pope John Paul II in 1998 (see p68). and earth collected by Cuban
Pope Francis laid a silver vase soldiers who fought in Angola.
with his coat of arms during a The austere interior of the Sanctuary of the There is a guestbook for visitors
subsequent papal visit in 2015. Virgen del Cobre to peruse and sign.

The Virgen del Cobre
According to legend, in 1606 three (see p26), the goddess of rivers, gentleness,
slaves who worked in the copper femininity and love, who is also always depicted as
mines of El Cobre were saved in the a beautiful black woman wearing yellow. Now that
Bay of Nipe, off the north coast of the Santería religion is widespread in Cuba, the
Cuba, by the statue of a black Virgin sacred image of the Virgin of El Cobre and the
Mary holding the Holy Child in more profane, sensuous image of the beautiful
her arms. They had been caught African goddess are often combined in prayers
in a storm while out in a boat and discussion, and set beside each other on
and would have drowned had rustic home altars, often without any apparent
The statue of the not the Virgin, whose image awareness of contradiction.
Virgen del Cobre was floating among the waves,
come to their aid. In reality, it
seems that the statue arrived in Cuba by ship from
Illescas, a town in Castile, upon the request of the
governor Sánchez de Moya, who wanted a Spanish
Madonna for the village of El Cobre. Whatever the
truth, in 1612 the Virgen de la Caridad was given a
small sanctuary and immediately became an object
of veneration for the locals, who continued to
attribute miraculous powers to her. The devotion
for this Madonna has always been very strong,
even among non­practising Catholics. Her figure
is associated with the Afro­Cuban saint Oshún A group of ex votos offered by the barbudos

224-225_EW_Cuba.indd 225 14/02/17 11:37 am