Did you know that in 1789 (over 250 years after the apparitions of Our Lady and her appearance on St. Juan Diego’s tilma) a copy of the image was commissioned for the Basilica.
It was painted with the best materials and techniques available at the time and placed beside the original. Although it was immediately placed within a protective glass frame and left untouched—unlike the original—in less than eight years it was so tattered and faded that it needed to be discarded.
It has been over two centuries since and the original image on the maguey fiber tilma from December 12, 1531; touched by millions of hands, exposed to damage from ultraviolet light and the heat and smoke of illumination by candlelight and she still remains intact and beautiful to this day.
