Our Lady of the Rockies: Marian Devotion in the Post-Industrial West

Abstract

Abstract:Industrial decline and environmental degradation have left their mark on Butte, Montana, a "black heart" of the American West. Once producing more copper ore than any mine in the world, the mines ceased all operations in 1983. Two years later, a 90-foot tall, 48-foot wide, 51-ton statue of the Virgin Mary, named Our Lady of the Rockies, was airlifted in five massive pieces to her resting place 8,500 feet above sea level, where she now stands guard over the city and the toxic wasteland mining left behind. Our Lady offers a dramatic focal object for Butte's survival in a postindustrial setting. She invites viewers' engagement through seeing and devotion, acting as a sacred site of pilgrimage and credited by many for healing physical ailments and reopening Butte's mining sector. As a material link to the sacred, Our Lady provides believers with a path toward the transcendent and away from the deteriorating industrial city.