Cobre Santuary, Santiago de Cuba. Cuba

• ( 21 reviews)
• Santiago de Cuba
• Daily
• Destination: Santiago de Cuba

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The history of El Santuario del Cobre, begins when La Virgen de la Caridad was found in the bay of Nipe in 1608 for the siblings Juan and Rodrigo de Hoyos and the black man Juan Moreno, all them natural of the district El Cobre. The image was placed firstly in a small altar in the Herd of Barajagua, since the main altar of the church of El Cobre belonged to ferocious Santiago and the other ones two they were occupied by Santa Bárbara and Nuestra Señora del Rosario.

Sanctuary El CobreVirgen de la Caridad del CobreInside Sanctuary El Cobre Then, next to tha church was built a hermitage and soon after, at the end of the XVIII century, it began to be born the miraculous fame and with her the legendary history of La Virgen del Cobre, giving rise to the gradual decrease of the adoration to the image of Santiago (War Apostle).

In 1915 the Veterans of Independence Guerra, request Pope Benedicto XV proclaim L Virgen del Cobre like Patron Saint from Cuba, and she’s it’s done May 10 1916. El Cobre Sanctuary is destination forced for the devote ones of the Patron Saint from Cuba, that they goes to this temple many times to pay promises.

The offerings are accumulated and deposited in "Capilla de os Milagros": jewels of gold and precious stones, crutches, other wealth of diverse values and until the medal of gold won in 1954 by the North American writer Ernest Hemingway with Nobel Prize.  The pilgrims takes with them tiny stones of the mine and keep it in houses within liturgical vessel, pockets or handbags, as protection against the bad ones or maybe as good light for the personal and family future.

The Virgin has placed in the last three Churches, a followed by the other one, built in The Copper. The current church is the third that has had the Virgin whose party is September 8 and the current Church was built being the Basque Spanish Friar Valentín Zubizarreta (Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba ) September 8 1927.

December 20 1936 for orders of Pope Pío XI the virgin's image is crowned in solemn ceremony made in the Boulevard of Santiago de Cuba. In December of 1977, Pope Pablo VI granted the title of Basilica to the church, responsibility carried out by the African Cardinal Bernardino Cantín.

January 24 1998, during Pope Juan Pablo II visit, crowned the Virgin during the mass that took place in the Plaza de la Revolución Antonio Maceo of Santiago de Cuba and he placed among her hands a rosary of gold. In the church the Virgin's image is found it inside a glass urn within of which there are special climatic conditions. It is placed in the called "Camerín de la Virgen" where her faithful ones attends to pray and to put flowers. When the mass starts the Virgin's image it rotates toward the temple, on the biggest altar putting on her face toward the people. Once the mass end up, she rotates again.

It’s did before manually and now electronically with the urn that was acquired in Montreal, Canada, where the candlestick that lolls in the Virgin's room also comes. The mantel that she dressed was embroidered in gold by some closing nuns in Spain.

Through the time the image of La Virgen de la Caridad (Cachita, as many people calls her) has been useful to make multiple petitions on the part of the believers that request comfort in the face of the pains, mercy and peace in the moments of more tension, freedom and relief in the battles, etc.

Cobre Santuary Map

Cobre Santuary is located in Santiago de Cuba

It limits to the north with the province of Holguín; to the west with Granma; to the south with the Caribbean Sea, and to the east with the province of Guantánamo. The province covers a total area of 6 343 21 , Km². You can get here through Antonio Maceo International Airport, also by road from any other part of Cuba, or by sea ─in this last case, requesting the services from Punta Gorda Marina.

Two particular features characterizes Santiago de Cuba that make it exceptional: its hospitality, with people of happy and relaxed temperament and its rich historical-cultural wealth. Its Caribbean identity is evident in its popular music and in folklore manifestations. It depicts the title of Heroine City of the Republic of Cuba for the role carried out by its inhabitants in the revolutionary struggle during the decade of 1950. Privileged by its historical past, in Santiago de Cuba there are two of the Cuban places distinguished by UNESCO with the title of World Heritage: the San Pedro de la Roca Castle and the ruins of the first French coffee plantations in La Gran Piedra. The Santa Ifigenia cemetery , the 26 of July Historical Museum and the Siboney Farm, are places indissolubly linked to the history of Cuba.

Cayo Granma and Baconao Park (Biosphere Reserve) also part of the attractiveness of this region. As a tourist destination, Santiago de Cuba, combines excellent possibilities for the enjoyment of beaches, city and nature tourism for to the places of interest in those three scenarios.

For those who arrive in Santiago de Cuba, there are diverse lodging options in the city and in its surroundings, linked as much to the sea as to nature. With a variety of categories and levels of comfort, it will always be a guarantee for the visitors looking for harmony and soothing rest. There are other things, among so many, that make people from Santiago proud: to be the birthplace, par excellence, of almost all the musical genres of Cuba, a country where the music is soul and root; also, the carnivals that every month of July take place here, are the most spectacular in the country; as well as their rum, the well-known Fiestas del Fuego and the already traditional Festival of the Caribbean.

The region of Santiago de Cuba has the necessary infrastructure to encourage tourism of events and congresses; it also has in its mountainous and seafaring environment the conditions to develop nature and adventure tourism, trekking, nautical activities, and health tourism. But there is nothing better than walk its undulating and narrow streets loaded with history and music at the same time.

Review about Churches and Convents: Cobre Santuary