Esquipulas

The basilica at Esquipulas stands white and four-towered above a town near the Honduran border, and it was built in the eighteenth century for an image carved in the 1590s: a crucifix in dark balsam wood, blackened further by centuries of candle smoke, known as the Black Christ, to which healing is attributed and which draws pilgrims from across Central America and beyond. The main pilgrimage falls on the fifteenth of January, when the town fills entirely, but people come throughout the year, queueing to pass behind the altar and touch the image. The town around the basilica is given over to it, with stalls selling candles, images and the straw hats pilgrims wear.

History

The first settlers were Maya descended from the people of Copán, among them the Ch'orti', and the region lies within the Ch'orti' area of Guatemala. In 1594 the villagers asked the Portuguese sculptor Quirio Cataño, who lived in Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, for a crucified Christ with a dark complexion; he delivered it on 4 October 1594, and it arrived in Esquipulas on 9 March 1595, first housed in a small shrine just outside the town. The basilica was begun in 1740 under Pedro Pardo de Figueroa to cope with the growing pilgrimages and completed at the end of 1758 (Wikipedia, Esquipulas).

What you'll find

• The Black Christ - the dark carved crucifix behind the altar.
• The four-towered white basilica - the eighteenth-century church above the town.
• Pilgrims queueing to touch the image - the practice that fills the church.
• The stalls around the basilica - candles, images and pilgrims' hats.

When to go

November to April in the dry season; the fifteenth of January is the main pilgrimage and the town is overwhelmed. Half a day otherwise.

Things to know

On and around the fifteenth of January accommodation is impossible and the town is jammed. Queues to pass the image can be long at any time. The commercial fringe around the basilica is heavy. It is a devotional site first.

Nearby

Chiquimula is north-west; the Honduran border lies east.