Cova da Iria

This neighborhood is considered a high income area of the city as it hosts numerous attractions, convents, hotels, and pilgrims’ hostels, and other tourist facilities.

Lúcia and Francisco and Jacinta Marto were the three children who, according to the Catholic Church, received several apparitions and heavenly messages from the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

According to Sister Lúcia's memoirs written between 1935 and 1941, she and her cousins were at the Cova da Iria when they saw an apparition of a beautiful lady “made of light, holding a rosary in her hand”.

In October 1930, the Bishop of Leiria, Dom José Alves Correia da Silva approved the reported phenomena of Our Lady of Fátima,[1] writing in a pastoral letter “The visions of the children in the Cova da Iria are worthy of belief.”[2] Since the Holy See officially approved of the Fátima events and the messages given to the three shepherd children, the place has become a popular pilgrimage site.

The chapel has been expanded, and nearby are two minor basilicas in the Sanctuary of Fátima complex that covers the Cova da Iria.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima in Cova da Iria, Fátima, Portugal .
A panoramic view of the Chapel of the Apparitions in Cova da Iria.
The original Capelinha (“Little Chapel”) in the Chapel of the Apparitions. This is the spot of most of the reported visions.
Monument dedicated to the seers, Lúcia dos Santos and Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto .
The Life of Christ Museum in Fátima.