Digression-
Joe, there is no evidence that El Sanctuario in Chimayo ever was the site of an Indian shrine.
I know it well, as a child I went there with my parents every fall to get Chimayo chili, and winesap type apples from a little orchard nearby to the village.
The chapel was first built in roughly 1810 by a descendant of original Spanish settlers. The records are fairly complete.

Chimayo also has the remains of one of the original settler's villages, adobe dwellings and a chapel, all built in a square around an open area, now in ruins but one side which included the chapel is still there. One of the local families tries to keep visitors away by spreading scare stories about a dangerous dog, etc., but a short walk to the southwest of the chapel will take you there.

The little villages, Chimayo, Truchas and others on the edges of the Sangre de Christo are all interesting, their old chapels, built by settlers and some not at first recognized by the Spanish clergy, contain folk art and wall decoration that is interesting and unknown to the throngs of tourists that visit Santa Fe. Each also has its penitente chapel, closed to outsiders.

Cordoba, in Spain, contains one of the best preserved mosques; refitting into a church following the expulsion of the muslims did not destroy the magnificent columned interior, it is a gem. Originally the site of a Christian chapel built by Visigoths, a portion now is reoccupied by a Christian church.

Cordoba