Unusual painting showing the "Cerro Rico" (rich mountain) as the Virgin. The purpose was to persuade the indians that the Spanish had a divine right to the silver. (And the indians had a divine right to forced labor.)

According to legend/records, enough silver was taken out of the mountain to build a bridge to Spain. Most of the silver was gone by the beginning of the 19th century, but the mountain is still mined today the way it was 300 years ago - hand drills and dynamite.

Casa de la Moneda, Potosi, Bolivia 2000