Virgin of El Rocío

The Virgin of El Rocío (also known as Madonna of El Rocío or Our Lady of El Rocío, Spanish: Virgen del Rocío, Nuestra Señora del Rocío; also, formerly, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios or Santa María de las Rocinas) is a small carved wooden statue of the Virgin and Child, of which the only carved parts are the face, hands, and the Christ child, which is venerated at the Hermitage of El Rocío (Almonte, Province of Huelva, Spain). The associated annual procession/pilgrimage, known as the Romería de El Rocío, draws roughly a million people each year.

Although the present Hermitage of El Rocío dates only from the second half of the 20th century, there has been a hermitage on this site since the late 13th (or possibly early 14th) century. The statue of Our Lady of El Rocío certainly dates back to the first of these hermitages, though its precise date and origin are a matter of some controversy; the statue predates its garments.

The Virgin was declared the patron saint of Almonte 29 June 1653, and received Canonical Coronation in 1919.Pope John Paul II visited El Rocío and the Virgin 14 June 1993.

The original statue was roughly 1 metre (3.3 ft) high, although its garments and the superstructure that support them bring the total height to 156 centimetres (5.12 ft). It is a carved and painted wooden statue of the Virgin and Child, richly dressed in Baroque style. The eyes on the face look downward. According to Jesús Abades, it is made of birch wood. On the back of the sculpture is the legend "Nuestra Señora de los Remedios" ("Our Lady of Remedies"), believed to be the original name of the statue, before it became known in the 15th century as Santa María de las Rocinas (later del Rocío).

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Wikipedia