Our Lady of Conceição da Muxima

Its origins date back to the construction of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in the town known as Muxima, in the current province of Luanda, in 1599.
The sanctuary soon became an important center of Christianization, being the place where Africans were baptized before to ship them as slaves to different locations, but especially to the Americas.

It also became an important devotional space for indigenous Christian populations, who soon attributed the performance of several miracles to Senhora da Muxima.
Rumors of miracles soon spread throughout the surrounding regions, leading to the organization of acts of popular piety, whether based on Portuguese tradition, completely innovative or reminiscent of ancient African religions.
The most important of these traditions, the Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Conceição da Muxima, dates back to 1833, attracting thousands of pilgrims every year, at the end of August and beginning of September.
The devotion inspired several Angolan writers, such as Pepetela, who discusses the traditions associated with the Mamã Muxima in the work A Sul. O Sombreiro.

Despite the widespread devotion among the entire Angolan Catholic population, however, Our Lady of Muxima is not considered patron saint of Angola by the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé.
It is a spacious and strong building, with an austere, typically Portuguese architecture, built on the Kwanza River. It was burned down by the colonial Dutch in 1641 when they captured Muxima.

It was later modified.
The sanctuary, with an image of the Virgin, has been a place of great devotion for Christian pilgrims for generations.
It was classified as a National Monument by Portuguese Provincial Decree No. 2, of January 12, 1924. It is in a relatively good state of conservation and belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Ministry is responsible for its maintenance and preservation. of Culture.
On October 27, 2013, the image of Nossa Senhora da Muxima was attacked with beatings by a group of seven people belonging to the Church of Noah's Ark during Sunday mass.

The attack aimed to combat supposed idolatry, in a of the largest acts of religious intolerance ever recorded in the country.
The image suffered some damage but, a year later, the image was fully restored.