El Santuario de Chimayo, Catholic shrine in Chimayo, New Mexico.

El Santuario de Chimayo is a shrine in northern New Mexico, south of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, known for its healing earth. The adobe structure features two low bell towers, carved wooden beams, and a main chapel with colorful saint images on the altars.

The shrine emerged after a landowner found a crucifix near the Santa Cruz River in the early 19th century. The chapel was built shortly after on the discovery site and grew into an important pilgrimage destination in the region.

The shrine's feast days draw pilgrims: Our Lord of Esquipulas on January 15 or the nearest Sunday, and St. James the Great on the fourth weekend of July. Inside, five reredoses and a small sculpture of St. James the Great are folk-art pieces in the New Mexico Spanish colonial style. A prayer room beside the pocito holds ex-votos, photographs and discarded crutches left as testimonials.

The site is open daily and entry is free, though many visitors leave a donation. Those arriving during Holy Week should expect larger crowds, as thousands walk the route on foot.

The round pit in el pocito, the little room beside the nave, is refilled by the church with earth from nearby hillsides, sometimes more than once a day, totalling up to 25 or 30 tons a year. Pilgrims rub themselves with the dirt, keep it, or formerly ate it, as at Esquipulas in Guatemala.