Our Lady of the Gate of Otuzco

Defender of northern Peru

In Otuzco, the Virgin of the Gate is venerated; her image was placed above the town's entrance as a sign of protection. It is one of the major Marian shrines in northern Peru.

Origin and history

Tradition places the origin of the cult in the 17th century: fearing pirate attacks on the coast of La Libertad, the inhabitants placed an image of the Virgin above the entrance gate of the town as a sign of protection, around 1664. Soon she was invoked as a defender of the town and of the roads that connect with Trujillo.

Devotion was consolidated in the 18th and 19th centuries with pilgrimages and co-fradies. In the 20th century, the Bishop of Trujillo asked the Holy See for the canonical coronation of the image, granted by Pius XII and solemnly celebrated on 15 December 1943, in the third centenary of its placement. Since then, its December feast is one of the largest Marian concentrations in northern Peru.