The folowing is part of a Friday 13, April 2001 article by Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid for U.K.'s Telegraph :

Montserrat Black Virgin 'was white originally'

AMID Spain's Holy Week ceremonies, it was reported yesterday that the Black Virgin of Montserrat, one of the nation's most revered religious icons and the foremost symbol of Catalan nationalism, was originally white.
Renovators working for the government said the black hands and face of La Moreneta, a statue of the Virgin Mary in the monastery of Montserrat, 30 miles north of Barcelona, underwent a change in colour. The colour of the 12th century wooden sculpture, according to the renovators, was transformed either due to prolonged exposure to candle smoke or a chemical reaction caused by a varnish used as a paint sealant. READ MORE...

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]