Shrine of Our Lady of Europe

The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe (English Shrine of Our Lady of Europe; span Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Europa ) is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage church and a national shrine on the southern tip of Gibraltar peninsula ( Europa Point - Punta de Europa ). Under the title of Our Lady of Europe Catholics worship Mary as Patroness of Gibraltar and Europe. Your Memorial Day, Pope John Paul II on 5 May, Europe Day.

History

At the place which is now called Europa Point, began in the year 711, the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. To commemorate it a mosque was built. 1309 Gibraltar was Castilian during the Reconquista. The mosque was converted into a church and dedicated to Our Lady of Europe. 1333 the headland was re- Moorish and Islamic house of worship, in 1462 and again Castilian Catholic. After the worship of the Virgin of Europe took strong upswing and spread throughout the Mediterranean Europe.

In 1704 Gibraltar was captured during the Spanish War of Succession of the British-Dutch troops. The Protestant conquerors plundered the church and smashed the miraculous image of the Madonna and child. However, the fragments were recovered and put back together. The sculpture was brought to Algeciras.

The church building was used for military purposes. Only in 1961 left the British administration it the Diocese of Gibraltar. At this point it was unusable expire and as a church. The first rector Louis Orfila (1926-2010) sat down with great energy for a recovery. On September 28, 1962 Bishop John Farmer Healy celebrated the first mass in the walls. On October 7, 1967, the Virgen de Europa returned from Algeciras back into her sanctuary. The solemn consecration took Bishop Edward Rapallo on 5 October 1980. Starting in 1994, a complete renovation and expansion was partly from EU funds performed. Their conclusion was celebrated in 1997 with a solemn enthronement of grace image. For the 700 - year celebration in 2009 gave Pope Benedict XVI. the sanctuary of the Golden Rose. In April 2011, the World Youth Day Cross made ​​a stopover here.

Building

The architecture of the single-story, exterior whitewashed church is simple. Despite the changes of the 1960s and 1990s are still inside Moorish and Romanesque forms visible. The bell tower was added in the 20th century. He is gone visible across the Straits of Gibraltar.

The miraculous image of Our Lady of Europe, an approximately 60 cm high, and crowned as colored wooden sculpture of Mary with the child, can be dated to about 1500.