The sanctuary to this Virgin manifestation was established in 1594 , with the first church built between then and 1666 . The church has suffered damage on various occasions from lightning strikes and from earthquakes . Before the Spanish , the pyramid was considered to be sacred to a female rain deity called Chiconahuiquiahuita ( Nine Rains ) . She was accredited with striking the new church with lightning and supposedly a stone image of her was found at the site the church is now . The lightning strikes have caused minor damage , but the earthquakes have been more serious . In 1864 , the church was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake . It took ten years to rebuild and was re-inaugurated in 1873 . In February 1930 , there was a robbery at the church . The thieves stole the jewelry that the image had been wearing , including a gold crown , a silver halo and precious stones . The next major quake to damage the building came in 1999 , which damaged the towers and caused the pilgrims ' portal to collapse , with damage to 80 % of the building . However , the image of the Virgin , in her Fabergé box , was undamaged
quake to damage the building came in 1999
1999 Oaxaca earthquake
Cholula, Puebla