Patzcuaro's Basilica Church in Mexico interior

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud

Top choice


Built on a hill atop a pre-Hispanic ceremonial site, this cathedral-cum-pilgrimage site was intended to be the centerpiece of Vasco de Quiroga’s utopia. Begun in 1540, the church was not completed until the 19th century and only the barrel-vaulted central nave is faithful to his original design. Quiroga’s tomb, the Mausoleo de Don Vasco, is in the side-chapel to the left of the main entrance. It's a massive structure and quite austere, but always full of worshippers.

Behind the altar and up some steps at the eastern end of the basilica stands a much-revered figure of the cathedral’s patron, Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Our Lady of Health), which 16th-century Purépechans crafted with a paste made from the heart of the cornstalk and bound with tazingue, a natural glue. Soon after its dedication, people began to experience miraculous healings and pilgrims still arrive from all over Mexico to pray for miracles. They crawl on their knees across the plaza, into the church and along its nave. Pinned to the image and at its feet are tiny tin votivas (votives) of hands, feet, legs, eyes and other body parts for which the faithful seek cures.

Outside in the plaza, homeopathic cure-alls and religious items are sold at an outdoor market. Wandering towards the market's southern end, vendors of colorful handwoven clothing, shawls and fabrics appear too.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Museo de Artes e Industrias Populares

0.11 MILES

Highlights among the well-curated exhibits of this impressive folk-art museum include a room set up as a typical Michoacán kitchen, cases of gorgeous…

3. Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra

0.17 MILES

On the northern side of Plaza Chica and occupying the cavernous 16th-century Templo de San Agustín, this stunning public library has a barrel-vaulted…

4. Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra

0.18 MILES

Pátzcuaro’s second plaza, usually referred to as Plaza Chica, is officially named after a local heroine who was shot by firing squad in 1818 for her…

5. Templo del Sagrario

0.19 MILES

This creaky church is one of Pátzcuaro's oldest and is built on the site of a former hospital in the 16th century. Until the early 1900s, it housed the…

6. Vasco de Quiroga Statue

0.23 MILES

Pátzcuaro’s leafy main plaza is watched over by a serene statue of Vasco de Quiroga which rises from the central fountain. It was erected in 1965 to mark…

7. Plaza Vasco de Quiroga

0.23 MILES

Pátzcuaro’s leafy main square – more commonly known as 'Plaza Grande' – is Mexico’s largest plaza after the Zócalo in Mexico City and the only one in the…

8. Casa de los Once Patios

0.25 MILES

This cool, rambling colonial edifice was built as a Dominican convent in the 1740s. (Before that, it was the site of the Hospital de Santa Martha, founded…