Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe stands at the foot of the Hill of Tepeyac in northern Mexico City, the most visited Catholic shrine in the world and the spiritual heart of the nation. It enshrines the tilma, or cloak, said to bear the miraculous image of the Virgin imprinted in 1531 before the indigenous convert Juan Diego, an apparition that became central to Mexican identity and faith.
The modern basilica, a vast circular structure designed by Pedro Ramirez Vazquez and completed in 1976, can hold around 10,000 people, with the sacred image displayed above the main altar and viewable from moving walkways below. Beside it stands the older, tilting Baroque basilica of 1709, gradually sinking into the soft lakebed soil on which the city is built.
Each year some twenty million pilgrims visit, with as many as nine million arriving in the days around the December 12 feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They come on foot, by the busload, and on their knees across the great plaza, in one of the largest religious gatherings on Earth.
- Annual visitors
- ≈ 20,000,000
- Location
- 19.4840, -99.1170
- Local time
- 16:39 (America/Mexico_City)
🕘 Visiting hours
| Mon–Sun | 06:00–21:00 |
Open daily; widest visitor window. Mass and ceremonies may restrict access at times.
✨ Saints & blessed venerated here
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Our Lady of Guadalupe Saint
Marian title to whom the basilica is dedicated; her tilma image is enshrined above the main altar
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Juan Diego Saint
Indigenous visionary of the 1531 apparitions; depicted throughout and statue in Capilla del Pocito
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Miguel Pro Blessed
Jesuit Cristero martyr whose relics are kept in the New Basilica
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Carlo Acutis Blessed
Relic of the young Italian beatus held in the New Basilica
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Christ the King Saint
The Old Basilica is the Templo Expiatorio a Cristo Rey with the Cristo del Atentado crucifix
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John Paul II Saint
Pope who beatified (1990) and canonized (2002) Juan Diego here; commemorated at the basilica
Care & donations
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico
Accepts offerings and donations from pilgrims
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