Basílica de Guadalupe

Lonely Planet review

In December 1531, so the story goes, an indigenous Christian convert named Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin Mary as he stood on Cerro del Tepeyac (Tepeyac Hill), site of an old Aztec shrine. The local bishop was eventually convinced when the lady's image was miraculously emblazoned on his cloak and a shrine dedicated to the event soon sprang up.

By the 1970s the old yellow-domed basilica, built around 1700, was swamped by worshippers and was sinking slowly into the soft subsoil. So the new Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe was built next door. Designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, architect of the Museo Nacional de Antropología, it's a vast, round, open-plan structure with a capacity for over 40,000. The image of the Virgin hangs above and behind the main altar, with moving walkways to bring visitors as close as possible.