page_title: Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Guadalupe Basilica postcard. University of Dayton Libraries.
context_page_description: The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic church, basilica, and National shrine of Mexico which houses the cloak containing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The 1709 shrine was built in the North of Mexico City near the hill of Tepeyac, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. The basilica structure which now contains Diego's cloak was completed in 1974.
  This site is also known as La Villa de Guadalupe or, in a more popular sense, La Villa, and has several churches and related buildings.
  One of the most important pilgrimage sites of Catholicism, the basilica and tilma are visited by several million people every year, especially around 12 December, Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast day.
context_section_description: A nearby chapel was built on the sacred site devoted to a temple for Tonantzin Coatlaxopeuh, an important mother goddess, after the Spanish conquerors destroyed the temple.
  Pilgrimages have been made to this shrine almost uninterrupted since 1531–32. In the latter year, a shrine had been constructed at the foot of Tepeyac Hill, which served the people for ninety years. It was adapted as part of the parochial sacristy of the new basilica. In 1622 a rich shrine was erected; a newer one, much richer, in 1709. Other structures of the eighteenth century connected with it are a parish church, a convent and church for Capuchin nuns, a well chapel, and a hill chapel. About 1750 the shrine got the title of collegiate, and a canonry and choir service were established. In 1754 it was aggregated to the Basilica of St. John Lateran. In 1904 it was designated as a basilica.
caption: Guadalupe Basilica postcard. University of Dayton Libraries
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3364", "Image ImageLength": "2149", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2015:10:13 15:35:34", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "394", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8054", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3364", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2149"}