The Column of Bonaria, located on the large staircase that precedes the Basilica, is surmounted by the Virgin and Child. It was positioned in the place where the miraculous chest containing the statue of the Virgin was found by the monks. According to legend, on March 25, 1370, a ship that left Catalonia was hit by a storm. The sailors decided to throw the cargo overboard including a heavy crate. As soon as the latter was launched into the waves, the storm subsided and the crate eventually landed in Cagliari, under the Bonaria hill.