Las Lajas Sanctuary - Colombia

Las Lajas Sanctuary is located on the border of Ecuador and Colombia. The basilica is built in a canyon over the Guáitara River in a town called Ipiales, located 15 minutes into Colombia. Construction started on January 1, 1916 and finished on August 20, 1949, which makes it a fairly new church that looks a lot older then it really is. The church is of Gothic revival architecture and was built with donations from local churchgoers, replacing an old nineteenth-century chapel. The name Laja comes from the name of a type of flat sedimentary rock similar to floor tiles found in the Andes Mountains. The church was built to commemorate the appearance of the Virgin which legend has it, her image appeared on an enormous vertical rock 45m above the river.