Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima is situated in a village roughly halfway along the A1 expressway between Porto and Lisbon. Nestled in a valley on a plateau carved by erosion at the northern edge of the Estremadura Limestone Massif, it occupies the site of a pasture called Cova da Iria, where three shepherd children reportedly saw the Virgin Mary multiple times between May and October 1917. Originally a small settlement centered around a parish, Fátima has since expanded toward the Cova. The traditional character of its center contrasts sharply with the sprawling Sanctuary, now a dominant feature of the plateau and a magnet for four to six million pilgrims annually.