Educational Media Reviews Online

A Place of Miracles is part three of a five-part documentary (A Story to Tell) about Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Conejos County, Colorado. The church burned down on Ash Wednesday, 1926, and was rebuilt. The church suffered another fire on the eve of Ash Wednesday, 2016, but damage was limited. Nonetheless, considerable work must be done to restore and clean the art and religious artifacts. In this video, the conservationists explain their process and the great care they take to get things right. Some parishioners saw a miracle in the smoke stain in the shape of a crown above Mary's head and were encouraged.

The church and its artifacts are clearly important to the community. The film is not just about a church, but also a culture and its preservation. The rector of the parish, Rev. Sergio Robles, says "If we lose our traditions, we lose our identity." In this light, the expense and painstaking work of restoration makes sense.

This film can serve as a resource in the study of religion and culture, and the study of Spanish-speaking settlers of the Southwest. It could also support art restoration programs, to show what the job might entail.

Published and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Anyone can use these reviews, so long as they comply with the terms of the license.