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The largest pilgrimage church in Sicily, The Sanctuary Basilica of Our Lady of Tears in Syracuse was built to commemorate the 1953 miraculous tearing of a plaster effigy representing the Virgin Mary. The ever-growing number of religious devotees prompted the construction of a dedicated church of an appropriate scale. In 1957, an architecture competition was organized for the design of the new church, where 100 architects from 17 countries participated. The winners were Michel Andrault and Piere Parat, and their sculptural design became not only a landmark for the region but a trailblazer for religious architecture at the time.

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