Basílica de los Ángeles

The basilica in Cartago is built over the spot where, in 1635, a girl is said to have found a small dark stone figure of the Virgin on a rock, taken it home twice, and twice found it returned; a shrine was raised there and the image, called La Negrita, became the country's patron. The present building went up after the 1910 earthquake destroyed its predecessor, a heavy Byzantine and colonial hybrid with a painted timber interior and stained glass. Beneath it a spring runs and pilgrims fill bottles from it. On the first of August, hundreds of thousands walk the twenty-two kilometres from San José through the night to arrive for the second.

What you actually see

• La Negrita - the small dark stone image above the altar.
• The painted interior - timber, colour and stained glass throughout.
• The spring - beneath the basilica, where pilgrims fill bottles.
• The romería - the overnight walk from San José on 1 August.

When to go

Year-round; the basilica is open daily. The pilgrimage arrives on the second of August and the city is closed to traffic and packed for a day either side. Sunday mornings are busy with services.

Honest expectations

On the pilgrimage days Cartago is impassable and the basilica is a crush; going then means committing to the crowd. Cartago itself is a workaday city with little else for visitors beyond the ruins of the old parish church a few streets away. The building is heavy and dark inside, and photography is restricted during services.

Nearby

The Santiago Apóstol ruins are five minutes; Irazú and the Orosi valley are beyond.