El Cisne Sanctuary

El Cisne is a village of a few thousand people that holds one of the largest churches in southern Ecuador, a tall neo-Gothic basilica finished in the twentieth century and out of all proportion to the settlement, built for a sixteenth-century image of the Virgin credited with ending a drought. Every August the statue is carried out and walked about seventy kilometres to Loja over three days, accompanied by tens of thousands of pilgrims on foot, one of the largest religious processions in the country, and it stays in the cathedral there until November before returning. Outside the pilgrimage the village is quiet and the basilica largely empty, standing above the surrounding hills.

What you actually see

• A basilica out of scale with its village - neo-Gothic towers over a few thousand people.
• The August walking pilgrimage - the image carried seventy kilometres to Loja.
• The sixteenth-century image - the statue the sanctuary was built for.
• The hill setting - the church seen from far down the road.

When to go

August for the pilgrimage, when the village is overwhelmed; any other month for a quiet visit. Half a day. The statue is in Loja between August and November.

Honest expectations

For much of the year the image is not there, which surprises visitors. The village has minimal services and heavy stall commerce. Pilgrimage days mean impossible crowds and closed roads.

Nearby

Catamayo is south-east; Loja lies beyond it.