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Guanches frightened by this unexpected apparition tried to stone her, but their arms were paralyzed. Convinced this was a supernatural force, the chief of Guimar picked the image up and took it to his cave, where it remained for almost half a century. Later on, a Guanche convert made the Achbinico grotto its sanctuary, until 1526 when Don Pedro Fernandez de Lugo ordered a proper sanctuary for its worship to be built. The valuable image stayed on its designated site for three centuries, until 1826 when it disappeared in a flood which returned it to the sea. The popular devotion to the image made it necessary to replace it and the sculptor Fernando Estevez was charged to carve the new figure.
The image of the Black Madonna of Candelaria is kept in great basilica created on this site. Building on the church was completed in 1958. Every summer many pilgrimages come to Candelaria. On 14th of August the square outside the basilica fills with hundreds of pilgrims and the conversion of the Guanches is re-enacted.
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