La Carrodilla Church

The church of the Virgin of Carrodilla is found on Carril Cervantes, in the department of Luján de Cuyo, just in the limit with the department of Godoy Cruz.

This church was built in 1840, and it was the only temple that remained standing after the 1861 earthquake. On the frontispiece and above the central entrance (the only access to the temple) there is a mosaic work made in the city of Rosario and brought part by part to Mendoza. The mosaic, which was the work of Salvador Spinato, represents the Virgin on a cart in the vineyards. On the left, there is a niche, evoking the Holy Grave, which embraces the “Cristo Yacente”, a carved wooden image that is taken out in procession on Holy Fridays. At the back, there is a painting by the Mendocinean artist Antonio Sarelli which represents the sunset of Holy Friday at the Golgotha. The church has only one nave and one transept.

The temple is the home of the Virgin of Carrodilla’s image, brought by Don Antonio de Solanilla from Spain at the end of the XVIII century. It is an oak carved image; the Virgin’s face and hands, as well as the child in her arms, are coated with natural bee wax.

The Virgin of Carrodilla is the Patron Saint of vineyards and harvests. Every year at the Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (Vintage Festival), she is lifted up and carried by harvesters and vineyard caretakers who commend their harvesting work and lands to her for protection and help.