Minister of Tourism Francisco Javier Garcia was in La Vega over the weekend for the inauguration of the Religious Routes tourism project.
The Ministry seeks to encourage interest in pilgrimage routes by devising itineraries of cultural interest that link religious sites.
La Vega has the Museo Sacro and the Camino de los Misterios Marianos (Route of the Marian Mysteries) and a sculpture, Monumento de la Luz del Mundo (Monument to the Light of the World) in Santo Cerro.
The Ministry has invested in restoring the Victorian-style wooden house opposite La Vega’s Inmaculada Concepcion Cathedral and turned it into the museum from where tourists start the route. Next is the Camino de los Misterios Marianos ending at the Monumento Luz del Mundo, a 13-meter sculpture in the form of a cross built on a hill near the Church of Santo Cerro. The beam from the sculpture is visible for long distances across the La Vega Real valley.
The Santo Cerro Church is dedicated to the Virgin of Las Mercedes, the patron of the Dominican Republic, a main point of interest in Marian devotion in the Dominican Republic. The new museum has five halls where a collection of 16th Century historical items belonging to the La Vega Catholic Church parish is on display. The museum also contains an exhibition of religious paintings and sculptures.
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