Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar
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The Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar or Nuestra Señora del Pilar is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon, of great importance in Spain. The Pilar Basilica is one of two minor basilicas in the city of Zaragoza, and is co-cathedral of the city alongside the nearby La Seo Cathedral. The architecture is of baroque style, and the present building was predominantly built between 1681 and 1872.
The church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title Our Lady of the Pillar. According to ancient local tradition, on January 2 of the year 40, the Mother of God appeared in the flesh to the apostle St. James the Greater alongside the Ebro River, while St. James was preaching the Gospel in Spain. She appeared upon a pillar, and the pillar is conserved and venerated within the present basilica.
The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, celebrating the first apparition of Mary to Hispanic people, is on October 12. This coincides with the Dia de la Raza and the date of Columbus' discovery of the New World. Every Latin-American nation has donated national vestments for the fifteenth century statue of the Virgin, which is housed in the chapel. The statue is wooden and 39 cm. tall and rests on a column of jasper.
Numerous churches have been built upon this site through the years. First a small chapel was built to reserve the pillar. After the Reconquest of Zaragoza in 1118, a Romanesque style church was ordered to be built. This church was damaged by fire in 1434, and reconstruction began in the Mudejar-Gothic style. The present baroque edifice is a work of Francisco Herrera Hidestrosa, by commission of Don Juan de Austria.
In 1725 the Cabildo of Zaragoza decided to change the aspect of the Holy Chapel and commissioned architect Ventura Rodríguez, who transformed the building into its present dimensions of 130 meters long by 67 wide, with its eleven cupolas and four towers.
