Sometime at the end of the 12th century, in the hamlet of Meritxell in Andorra, an almond tree mysteriously flowered in the middle of winter. Intrigued, the villagers dug the snow around the tree and discovered this:

Par MARIA ROSA FERRE ✿ — Flickr: Santuari nou de Meritxell, Canillo, Andorra, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28561804

The miraculous object was put in the village church but the next day it had disappeared but was found under the same almond tree. The statue was then placed in another church, further away. Yet by the next day, it had made its way back to the almond tree again. The villagers then pragmatically decided to build a new church around the almond tree, Our Lady of Meritxell (Nostra Senyora de Meritxell or Mare de Déu de Meritxel in Catalan) and that’s where the statue stayed until tragedy struck in 1972 and the church and statue burned together. The statue was recreated in 1979 to look exactly like the original. This is a wonderful example of a practice common in the Far East but rare in the West: Instead of being left as is to become ruins, a monument is restored constantly using the same materials and techniques as the original, like for example the Golden Pavillion in Kyoto.

In another parallel with the Golden Pavillion, in 2005, Our Lady of Meritxell was stolen by a mad man and burnt to ashes. Since then, the statue has been remade 3 times, every time more precisely like the original. The latest, by Jaume Rossa, can be seen in a newly built church. the New Sanctuary of Our Lady of Meritxell .

Our Lady wears local sabots, traditional shoes made of hollowed wood and is heavily cross-eyed.

Par Ferran Llorens — Flickr: Mare de Déu de Meritxell, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21823561

Par Ferran Llorens — Flickr: Santa Maria de Meritxell, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21823501

Par MARIA ROSA FERRE ✿ — Flickr: Santuari de Meritxell enmig de les muntanyes, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28044230