The Basilica del Pilar is one of the most important Marian sanctuaries in the Catholic world. It is also an artistic center of first order that brings together works of great value and different times, especially frescoes painted by Goya.

The construction of the current Basilica del Pilar is intimately linked to the increase of Marian devotion throughout the seventeenth century. The former Gothic-Mudejar building is small compared to the growing number of faithful and it is necessary to build a new grandiose and monumental temple, more in keeping with the new triumphant spirit of the Church of the Counter-Reformation and with the newly acquired category of concathedral.

The current physiognomy of Pilar is the result of a long process of construction that begins with the project of Saragossa Felipe Sánchez, later revised by Herrera el Mozo, architect of Carlos II. The intervention of the royal architect Ventura Rodríguez from 1750 was decisive: it renews the interior decoration according to the new classicist currents of the time and designs the Santa Capilla and the Coreto, and remodels the exterior layout with domes added to the central one – that in a It had been thought that it was going to be the only one – and towers that would not be finished until the middle of our century.

For those of you who are like me and don’t know what “physiognomy” means – it is the supposed art of judging character from facial characteristics. There you are now!

Some photos from the interior of the Basilica before Sheila got caught!!