Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana
A Moorish-influenced Renaissance basilica on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, housing a dark-skinned Virgin carved by an indigenous artist in 1583, the most venerated Marian image in Bolivia.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana sits at the edge of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake, in the small town of Copacabana at 12,600 feet above sea level. The church was built between 1610 and 1651 and holds a statue of the Virgin Mary carved in 1583 by Francisco Tito Yupanqui, a descendant of Inca nobility who taught himself to sculpt in order to create an image for his town. The statue — dark-skinned, dressed in elaborate vestments and crowned — is the focus of intense devotion across Bolivia. Pilgrimages to the basilica are common, especially on the Feast of the Virgin of Copacabana in August. The building combines Renaissance forms with Moorish-influenced decorative elements, and the interior glitters with gold leaf and colonial-era altarpieces.
Diocese: Prelature of Coroico
Style: Renaissance with Moorish elements
What to See
The statue of the Virgin is the centerpiece — elaborately dressed, dark-skinned, and displayed in a revolving glass case. The gold-leaf altarpieces are colonial Baroque at its most exuberant. Step outside for the view of Lake Titicaca spreading to the horizon at impossible altitude.
Pilgrim Notes
Mass is offered daily in Spanish and sometimes Aymara. Copacabana is reachable by bus from La Paz in about four hours. The altitude is significant — give yourself time to acclimatize. The Feast of the Virgin in early August draws enormous crowds and is the best time to see Bolivian popular Catholicism at full intensity.