La Cruz de la Parra (English: The Cross of Vinewood), or The Sacred Cross of Parra, as it is referred to in English, is a wooden cross which was erected by

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

in Cuba after he had landed there during his First Voyage in 1492. It is considered the oldest artifact connected with Columbus to be found in the Americas. Referring to Columbus,

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

Bartolomé de las Casas Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( ; ; 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century Spanish landowner, friar, priest, and bishop, famed as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman then became a Dominican friar ...

, O.P., who later chronicled the conquest of the Americas, wrote that, on 1 December 1492, "he placed a large cross at the entrance of that port, which I believe he named Porto Santo". Of the 29 crosses planted by Christopher Columbus in the New World, this is believed to be the only one to have survived. It was offered as a gift to

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

by the people of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

on the occasion of his visit in 1998, the first ever by a pope, but he declined to remove it from the island. The relic remains in Baracoa, Cuba.

References

{{Authority control Christopher Columbus Individual crosses and crucifixes Catholic Church in Cuba 1492 establishments in the Spanish West Indies