The crowns for the statue of Our Lady of Fátima were made with the gold, silver and precious stones offered by Portuguese women who gave their jewels in thanksgiving for the fact that Portugal had not entered the Second World War.

The result of this offering was delivered to Casa Leitão & Irmão. The generosity of the offers was so great that two crowns were made: one of gilded silver and one of gold and precious stones. Both are queen’s crowns, since Our Lady had been crowned Queen of Portugal by King João IV, in 1646.

During several months, 12 jewellers worked on this project, which resulted in a precious work of Portuguese jewellery known as the “Crown of Our Lady of Fátima”. The coronation ceremony took place in Fátima on May 13, 1946. From then on Our Lady of Fátima came to have two crowns: the silver gilt crown, used every day; and the “Precious Crown” of gold and precious stones, for the days of great pilgrimages.

Almost half a century later, in 1984, the Precious Crown gained greater relevance when Pope John Paul II offered Our Lady of Fátima the bullet that struck him during the attempt on his life on May 13, 1981, at the Vatican. The bullet fit perfectly in the empty space left in 1942 at the junction of the eight half-arches that form the crown.