Who Knew?

Who knew about Our Lady of Lasjas in Colombia?

In Spanish las lajas means “the rocks.” This image was imprinted on the rocks of a gorge above the Guaitara River in Colombia near the border of Ecuador. It has the singular characteristic of having been painted by Angels. The image is situated inside a cave very high in the mountains, and was completely unknown until it was discovered in the mid-18th century by an Indian.

Our Lady of Las Lajas. The picture penetrates the rock miraculously. It is not painted, but mysteriously imprinted in the rock. The colors are not applied in a surface layer of paint or other material, but penetrate deep into the rock. No one knows how the work was done. Certainly it has no natural geological cause. I have never heard of any case where nature reproduced human faces with such perfection.




The image represents a noble Lady from an uncertain period, most probably 16th- or 17th- century Spain. How such a picture came to be in that cave unnoticed by anyone remains a mystery. These circumstances seem to indicate that it is an akeropita image – akeropita in Greek means not made by human hands, id est, painted by the Angels. How can the beauty of this image be described? I will comment on two aspects: the colors and the persons. (Read on here.)










The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Las Lajas was built high in mountains of Colombia. The Sanctuary entrance, which leads to the cave with the miraculous image of Our Lady of Las Lajas.