Our Lady of the Port

Marian devotion of Madrid (Community of Madrid)
Recognized by the Church

Our Lady of the Port is a very deep-rooted devotion in Madrid, linked to its baroque hermitage by the Manzanares River. Its documented origin was in the 18th century, at the initiative of King Philip V: the hermitage was designed by the architect Pedro de Ribera. The devotional tradition relates the Madrid image to the Virgin of the Port of Plasencia (Extremadura), which would have been brought to Madrid by courtier devotees; this connection between the Extremean image and the Madrid image is more traditional than clearly documented.

Main data

Origin and history

Our Lady of the Port is a very deep-rooted devotion in Madrid, linked to its baroque hermitage by the Manzanares River. Its documented origin was in the 18th century, at the initiative of King Philip V: the hermitage was designed by the architect Pedro de Ribera. The devotional tradition relates the Madrid image to the Virgin of the Port of Plasencia (Extremadura), which would have been brought to Madrid by courtier devotees; this connection between the Extremean image and the Madrid image is more traditional than clearly documented.

The image and the sanctuary

The image is venerated in the Hermitage of the Virgin of the Port, on the Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto, by the Manzanares River, in front of the Campo del Moro (district of Moncloa-Aravaca, very close to the Centre). The 18th-century baroque work of Pedro de Ribera was partly destroyed during the Civil War and later rebuilt; the current image responds to the restoration and continuity of devotion. The sources do not contain precise artistic details of the current image.

Sponsorship and coronation

The official patron of the city of Madrid is the Virgin of Almudena. It does not know that Our Lady of the Port is an official patron of the municipality of Madrid, nor does it contain a decree of civil patronage. There is no documented canonical or liturgical coronation in the sources consulted.

Party and devotion

The hermitage was a frequent place of romaneries and walks of the madrileños to the riverside of the Manzanares, a custom collected by custom and chronicles madrileña. Testimony of thanks for protection in river floods and diseases, collected in local publications and in the history of the hermitage, is preserved. The sources consulted do not contain a precise liturgical feast date or a specific miracle documented with written testimony.

Link to the Rosary

There is no legal link or specific holder of Our Lady of the Port with the Rosary. As in all Marian devotion, the prayer of the Rosary to the image is common, but there is neither a rosarian advocation of its own nor a decree that officially links it to the Rosary.