Basilica of Candelaria

The Basilica of Candelaria sits directly on the seafront in the town of Candelaria, roughly 20 kilometres south of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and is the largest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the Canary Islands. The current klassizismus-style building dates to 1959 and was elevated to a basilica minor in 2011, but veneration at this site stretches back to the 14th century, when the indigenous Guanche people reportedly discovered a statue of the Virgin on the beach in circumstances they described as miraculous. The original sculpture was lost in a storm surge in 1826; the venerated image today is a 17th-century replica. Around 2.5 million pilgrims and visitors arrive each year, making it the most-visited religious site in the Canary Islands. Along the seafront plaza, ten oversized statues of Guanche chieftains stand as an unusual monument to the islands' pre-colonial inhabitants.