Basilica of El Cobre

El Cobre is a copper-mining village in the hills above Santiago, and its basilica holds the image of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, the patron of Cuba, a small figure found floating in the Bay of Nipe in the early seventeenth century according to the traditional account. The church was built in the 1920s with three towers on a hillside above the village. The chapel of offerings behind the altar holds what pilgrims have left over the decades: medals, hair, crutches, sporting trophies and thousands of small objects.

What you actually see

• The image - the Virgen de la Caridad, displayed above the altar and rotated to face the congregation.
• The chapel of offerings - a room of objects left by pilgrims, from crutches to medals to hair.
• The basilica - a three-towered church of the 1920s on a hillside above the village.
• The setting - the old copper workings and the village below the church.

When to go

November to April is the drier season. The feast day on 8 September is the largest pilgrimage of the year and the village fills completely. Mornings are quietest at other times.

Honest expectations

This is an active pilgrimage church and behaviour should reflect that; photography inside is restricted during services. Sellers of candles, flowers and stones work the approach persistently. The village itself is poor and the contrast with the basilica is stark.

Nearby

Santiago de Cuba is half an hour southeast, and La Gran Piedra is on the other side of the city.