Black Madonnas by Sarah Teofanov

In the period of several hundred years over five hundred huge Cathedrals and small chapels were built to Mary Mother of God, her representation in those buildings being a black Madonna holding a black child. This was primarily during the Middle Ages in France, Spain, and western Italy continuing up into the Renaissance. This was a truly inspired period of architecture, poetry, music, and all were dedicated to this lady. She was openly worshiped as Isis, as the Goddess, and her cult seems to have been helped along by the returning crusaders, who constructed many monuments in her honor.
"The Black Madonna is a symbol of all of the above and much more. She is Isis and she is Eve, she is the primal material and the black lands, she is alchemy and she is the mother of all of human creation. From the depths of the darkest of space and from the primal blackness of the mud of the earth she was formed. Manifesting into all colors and realms she casts her light of compassion, love and forgiveness into the very being of humanity." Jay Weidner The Black Madonna-Return of the Feminine.