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Virgen del Lago - Before
Virgen del Lago - After
Virgen del Lago - Detail

This mural, titled “La Virgen del Lago” was completely repainted as part of the Boyle Heights Mural Pilot Program. This mural is located on the corner of Evergreen and Wabash in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. This mural was cited by the City of LA because it did not have a permit from the Department of Cultural Affairs. The mural was not signed, and we were unable to located the originally artist. The mural was badly damaged by vandalism. ICU Art had John “Zender” Estrada repaint the entire mural in the style of the original artist.

The Mural depicts the Virgin Mary in an incarnation known as “Our Lady San Juan de los Lagos.” The image hails to a venerated period in Catholic Mexican history in the 16th Century when residents of San Juan de los Lagos witnessed a miraculous recovery of a severely ailing and much loved girl of the town.

The Catholic residents through prayers attributed the girl’s recovery to the Virgin Mary. A specific image of the Virgin and subsequently named after the town was created to honor the event. The Virgin here is draped in a starry blue mantle being crowned by two angels as a symbol of her coronation by the Pope Pius X in 1904. The inscription on the scroll reads "Mater immaculate Ora Pro Nobis". Originally called the “Virgin of Conception”.