Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Coromoto

The Basilica of Our Lady of Coromoto stands 25 kilometers north of Guanare in Venezuela's Portuguesa state and serves as the country's foremost Catholic national shrine. It is dedicated to the patron saint of Venezuela — according to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in 1651 to the chief of the Cospes people and left behind a tiny sacred image, which is preserved in the basilica to this day. Built in the brutalist style and completed in 1996, the structure presents a striking contrast between raw concrete modernism and centuries-old popular devotion. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan pilgrims make their way here, particularly around the patron saint's feast day in September.