Sixty-two centimeters of carved cedar, shaped by the Spanish sculptor Diego de Robles late in the sixteenth century, rest in a niche above the high altar of a basilica modeled on Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore. Every year in November, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk through the night across the Andean foothills east of Quito to stand before it.
El Quinche is a rural parish of metropolitan Quito, set in the upper Guayllabamba valley at roughly 2,600 meters, at the base of the Pambamarca highland massif. The image above its altar carries the title Nuestra Señora de la Presentación del Quinche, Our Lady of the Presentation, and in 1943 Ecuador's bishops crowned it Queen and National Patroness. The basilica that houses it became a Minor Basilica in 1959 and Ecuador's National Shrine in 1985.
Pope Francis prayed before the image in July 2015, meeting with clergy and religious gathered at the shrine on the final full day of his visit to Ecuador. Pilgrims arriving on foot from Quito each November make the same approach, converging on the basilica's plaza after a night's walk across the highlands.
📜 History & Spiritual Significance
Diego de Robles, the sculptor who had carved the venerated image of Our Lady of Guápulo near Quito, made a second cedar image late in the sixteenth century for the Andean community of Oyacachi, roughly 65 km by road from El Quinche. Local tradition holds that Robles made the image after Oyacachi, plagued by bear attacks, asked for a Christian image to protect it, paying the sculptor in cedar wood rather than coin. The image remained at Oyacachi for close to two decades, kept in a natural grotto, before it was moved to El Quinche in 1604 — the one date in its early history on which every source agrees.
In 1632, the town council of Quito named the image patroness and protector of the city. In 1822, the year of Ecuador's independence, it was acclaimed protector of that liberation. The title became a national one on 20 June 1943, when Archbishop Carlos María de la Torre of Quito, acting as delegate of Pope Pius XII, crowned the image Queen and National Patroness of Ecuador. Pope John XXIII raised the church to the rank of Minor Basilica on 2 May 1959, and in 1985 Ecuador's bishops, together with Rome, declared it the country's National Shrine.
A sanctuary had stood on the site since around 1630. An earthquake struck the region in 1868 and damaged the colonial-era church. In the early twentieth century, the Archdiocese of Quito began work on the building that stands today: a neoclassical basilica modeled on Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major, designed in 1904 by the Salesian brother Jacinto Pankiani, with construction beginning in February 1905. Archbishop Federico González Suárez later brought in Father Pedro Brüning to direct the work, and the basilica was consecrated in 1928.
The shrine's formal title, Our Lady of the Presentation, marks the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple, kept each 21 November — the devotion here centers on the carved image itself rather than on any reported apparition at El Quinche.
☩ Pilgrimage Sites in El Quinche
Basílica de Nuestra Señora de El Quinche
Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Presentación del Quinche
The twin-towered neoclassical basilica was designed in 1904 and built between 1905 and 1928, its facade modeled on Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major. Inside, the carved cedar image of Our Lady of the Presentation stands in a niche above the high altar. The plaza in front of the basilica is where the November walking pilgrimage from Quito converges each year.
🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations
Feast of Our Lady of the Presentation — November 21
The shrine's patronal feast, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple, is kept each year with a Mass at the basilica. In the weeks before, local priostes — lay volunteers who take turns hosting the image in their homes — lead a pre-dawn devotion known as the rosario de la aurora.
The November Walking Pilgrimage
In the days around the feast, pilgrims set out on foot from several points around Quito and walk through the night to reach El Quinche by morning. Documented routes include a 27.3 km walk from Calderón by way of Guayllabamba, a 31.1 km walk from Cumbayá by way of Pifo, and a 43 km walk from Sangolquí. The tradition draws crowds regularly described in the hundreds of thousands, and Ecuadorian press accounts have often ranked it the country's second-largest annual pilgrimage, after the walk to Our Lady of El Cisne in Loja province — though neither figure rests on an audited count.
🛏️ Where to Stay
Nice Hostal El Quinche (guesthouse) — Private rooms with en-suite bathrooms in the historic center of El Quinche itself, a short walk from the basilica. Reserve this hotel
Hostería San Vicente (guesthouse) — A twelve-room countryside inn in Guayllabamba, roughly 17 km from El Quinche, with a pool and an on-site restaurant. Reserve this hotel
Hostal La Cocina Tipica ⭐⭐⭐ — On the Panamericana Norte in Guayllabamba, with a restaurant and free parking. Reserve this hotel
Inraki Lodge (guesthouse) — A five-room lodge on the outskirts of Guayllabamba with a garden and continental breakfast. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel
🚗 Getting There
By Air: Quito's Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO), in Tababela, is the nearest airport, about a 15-minute drive from El Quinche.
By Bus: Inter-parish buses serve El Quinche from Quito's Río Coca and Ofelia transit stations; long-distance buses to the wider area also depart from Terminal Terrestre Quitumbe.
By Car: El Quinche sits roughly 30–45 km by road from central Quito, most directly reached via the highway through Pifo.
📚 Further Reading
Books:
Carl Anderson and Eduardo Chávez. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love — The closest available parallel to El Quinche's own story: a colonial-era, indigenous-linked Marian image that became a nation's patroness.
Wincenty Laszewski. The World of Marian Apparitions: Mary's Appearances and Messages from Fatima to Today — A survey of Marian devotion worldwide, offering context for El Quinche's own centuries-old tradition.
Fr. Michael E. Gaitley. 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration — A practical retreat for pilgrims wishing to deepen the Marian devotion El Quinche represents.
🎥 Recommended Videos
Misa desde el Santuario del Quinche — Full Mass broadcast from the shrine's own official YouTube channel.
Vatican Gardens inaugurates Our Lady of Quinche image — Rome Reports covers a replica of the image installed in the Vatican Gardens.
Papa Francisco en Ecuador: Santuario de El Quinche y Despedida — Ecuadorian national television coverage of Pope Francis's July 2015 visit to the shrine.
🔗 Useful Links
Archdiocese of Quito — Diocesan website for the archdiocese that oversees the shrine.
ViajandoX: Santuario de El Quinche — Ecuadorian travel guide entry with visitor information for the shrine.
🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations
Quito (26 km) — Ecuador's colonial capital, its historic center filled with the churches of Our Lady of Good Success and the incorrupt Lily of Quito.
Las Lajas (129 km) — A neo-Gothic basilica in Colombia built directly over the canyon wall where Our Lady is said to have appeared in 1754.
🪶 Closing Reflection
"I place at the feet of Our Lady of Quinche the vivid experiences of my visit."
