Our Lady of Meritxell (Catalan: Mare de Déu de Meritxell, IPA: [ˈmaɾə ðə ˈðew ðə məɾiˈtʃeʎ]) is an Andorran Roman Catholic statue depicting an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
A replica can be found in the new Meritxell Basilica, designed in 1976 by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura.
The Catalan philologist Joan Coromines says that Meritxell is a diminutive of merig, from the Latin meridiem ("midday").
In the late 12th century, on January 6, a wild rose in bloom was found by villagers from Meritxell going to Mass in Canillo.
As in similar legends elsewhere, the villagers of Meritxell took this as a sign and decided to build a new chapel in their town after they found an open space miraculously untouched by the winter snows.