in the south portion of the Kingdom of New Granada (titled "Wonders of Nature"). This is possibly the oldest reference to its existence. Pious legends Las Lajas Sanctuary in southwest Colombia is renowned for its stunning architecture, for a series of legends involving the appearance of the Holy Virgin Mary, and for a mysterious mural of unknown origin. Located in the southwestern Colombian state of Nariño, the Sanctuary sits on a 50 metre (130-foot) high bridge built over the Guaitara river, less than 11 km (seven miles) from the Ecuadoran border. The neo-Gothic church was erected by worshipers between 1916 and 1953, to replace a shrine first built in the middle of the 18th century. According to popular belief, the Virgin Mary appeared to a woman and her deaf-mute daughter in 1754 at the same place where the church now stands. The woman, Maria Meneses de Quiñones, and her daughter, Rosa, were passing by the Guaitara river when they sought refuge from a storm. At that moment, Rosa shouted "Mum, the Virgin is calling me!" and pointed to an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The woman kept quiet about the apparition until something even less expected happened: after Rosa died, Mueces, determined to pray for her daughter's soul, returned to the place where her daughter and she had seen the Virgin Mary; the Virgin then miraculously revived Rosa, and mother and daughter could no longer keep the miracle a secret. The first shrine in the honor of Jesus's mother was built a few years after the alleged appearance, according to the journal of a friar who travelled through the region between 1756 and 1764. Half a century later, in 1802, a bigger shrine was built and worshipers erected the first version of the bridge that now allows access to the church. The alleged Marian apparition of the Virgin Mary is only the first of a number of legends and mysteries linked to Las Lajas Sanctuary. For example, nobody knows who made the image of the Virgin that is at the back of the church, behind the altar. According to some, the image was first seen when Mueces wanted to show a priest and other local people where her daughter had been revived. On arrival, the worshipers saw the image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus imprinted in a stone wall. The image supposedly extends several feet into the stone, but