History of Cartago

Many pilgrims come to Cartago annually, to visit the nation's principal church, the enormous Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, on the feast day of the Virgin of the Angels (August 2). The church has a statue of a Black Madonna known as La Negrita, who supposedly had great healing powers. The sick come to her statue in hope of a miracle from La Negrita.

According to folklore in Costa Rica, the statue was found by an indigenous girl in 1635. She brought it home several times, but it mysteriously reappeared at its original site. The rock where she found it is now kept in a backroom in the basilica and is revered as a sacred relic and object of inspiration. The rock is supposed to be in the same location it was when La Negrita was found, but it has been moved as the basilica was rebuilt (see below). It is common for pilgrims to touch the rock in reverence.

The Plaza Mayor in Cartago includes the Santiago Apóstol Parish Ruins, about five blocks west from the basilica. Despite their beauty, they are not real ruins but an unfinished building, which was badly damaged by the 1910 earthquake and then interrupted. The city's government is declaring 100 blocks as Cartago's "historical center." This is a way to keep the historical buildings alive in the future, as many cities in the world have done. On the other hand, the governments of the city and JASEC (the company that produces and distributes electricity to Cartago and surrpounding areas) have been working to light some of the most important historical buildings as a way to attract inhabitants and tourists to the city at night time.

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