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With an average altitude of 544 meters, and elevations varying from 525 to 620 meters, Aparecida has a hot climate with dry winters. Recorded temperatures are a maximum of 35 °C, a minimum of -1 °C and an average of 22 °C.
It now depends exclusively on tourism generated by the devotees surrounding the statue of the Virgin. Aparecida receives more than 7 million tourists a year making it the most popular religious pilgrimage site in Latin America.[4]
These pilgrims come to visit the Basilica containing the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida. This statue, thought to have been found in the Paraíba River in October 1717, is made of clay and measures 40 centimeters in height. The dark colour was produced by the years of exposure to candles and lamps around the altar. In 1978 it was attacked and reduced to hundreds of fragments which were meticulously put back together by specialists from the São Paulo Museum of Art.[5]
Aparecida was the source of a proposal endorsed by Pope Francis in 2020 to establish a collaborative ministry among the local churches of the various South American countries in the Amazon basin, with differentiated priorities.[6]
