5 facts about Fatima. Did you Know?

The Sanctuary of Fátima, is well known for being the second largest Marian sanctuary, due to its power and mystical atmosphere, attracting millions of pilgrims each year.

The main square which is twice the size of St. Peter’s square in the Vatican has a capacity of 300,000 people.

But, let’s unveil 5 curiosities about this place that are known to few;

1 – The Little Chapel of the Apparitions was the target of a bomb attack

Built in 1919, as requested by Our Lady of Fátima, the modest chapel made of stone and lime had to be rebuilt after being dynamited by anticlerical groups, on March 6^th, 1922.

The little chapel was rebuilt within a year and maintains the original structure to this day.

2 – There is a piece of the Berlin Wall in Fatima

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, several blocks of this wall have been placed in various cities around the world. What few people know is that at the east entrance of the sanctuary there is one of these pieces, offered by a Portuguese man living in Germany.

It is 2.6 tons of wall, offered in the 1990s. Next to the wall one can read the words of Pope John Paul II in one of his three visits to Fatima: “Thank you, heavenly shepherdess, for having lovingly guided people to freedom”.

With the Fatima message being interpreted by Christians as a symbol of hope in the fight against atheistic communism, many link the disintegration of the USSR with the events in Cova da Iria.

3 – A chapel built by Hungarian refugees

The Chapel of Saint Stephen and the Hungarian Calvary – officially Cardinal Mindszenty Calvary – are the end points of the Way of the Cross that begins in the village of Valinhos, where the little shepherds lived.

It was commissioned by refugees who escaped the communist dictatorship after World War II in Hungary and were denied their religious freedom.

4 – The porch of the Little Chapel of the Apparitions is made of Siberian wood

Inaugurated for the first visit of Pope John Paul II, the porch that protects the faithful who attend the celebrations near the little chapel was lined in 1988 with pine wood from Siberia. This type of wood was chosen because it is light and durable.

5 – The crown atop the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary weighs seven tons

The basilica where the tombs of the seers of Fatima are located marks the landscape of the Sanctuary. The work of the architect Gerardus Samuel van Krieken has, at the top of the bell tower, a bronze crown which weighs seven tons. To this weight are added 62 bells, the largest of which weighs a further three tons.

Impressive, right?!

SOURCE: Shrine of Fatima