current image to Juan de la Huerta (d. 1462) or his school. It appears that folk belief in some cases may be inclined to regard the Saragossa image as miraculous, sculptured by the angels as they transported Mary from Jerusalem to Saragossa (Zaragoza); this mystical tradition goes back to María de Ágreda (d. 1665), herself the object of frequent "mystical bilocation" (i.e. she reported that she was often "transported by the aid of the angels" ), who gave an account to this effect in her Mystical City of God; however, unlike the tradition of the Marian apparition itself, the miraculous origin of the image is not part of the tradition recognized by the Holy See as canonical. Since the 16th century, the pillar is usually draped in a skirt-like cover called manto "mantle". As a whole, it is protected by a bronze case and then another case of silver. The image was canonically crowned in 1905 during the reign of Pope Pius X. The crown was designed by the Marquis of Griñi, valued at 450,000 pesetas (c. USD 2.6 million as of 2017). Other depictions Our Lady of the Pillar is a common motif of the Madonna and Child in Spanish art; extant examples other than the Saragossa image date from the Renaissance period onward. Depictions become especially numerous following the introduction of the feast day throughout the Spanish Empire in 1730. Feast day The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar is celebrated on 12 October and she is the Patroness of the Hispanic peoples and the Spanish Civil Guard. A grand nine-day festival known as Fiestas del Pilar is celebrated in Saragossa (Zaragoza) every year in her honour. The modern Fiestas del Pilar, as they developed since the 19th century, begin on the weekend preceding 12 October and they end on the Sunday after 12 October (i.e. they move between 5–13 and 11–19 October). They were declared as a "national holiday of touristic interest" (Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional) by the Ministerio de Comercio y Turismo in 1980. As 12 October coincides with the day of the year 1492 when land was first sighted on Columbus's First Voyage, the Fiesta de la Raza Española, first proposed in 1913 by Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro y Díaz-Argüelles to fall on the same date. In the United States, this was later called "Columbus Day", as Columbus tends to be more associated with