The Basilica of Chiquinquirá in Maracaibo () is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. The feast day of the church is November 18. It is a colonial church that was built between 1686 and completed in 1858. The basilica enshrines a colonial wooden image made in 1709, the second colonial replica of the famed earliest cotton painting of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá.

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...

granted a decree of canonical coronation for the Bishop of Zulia, Arturo Celestino Álvarez on 16 July 1917. The same Pontiff raised her shrine to the status of

Minor Basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

via the Pontifical decree ''Exstat in Civitate'' in 18 May 1920. The rite of coronation was executed on 18 November 1942, twenty five years after its approval due to delayed preparations and political turmoil.

References

18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Venezuela Buildings and structures in Maracaibo Basilica churches in Venezuela Roman Catholic churches completed in 1770 1770 establishments in the Spanish Empire {{venezuela-RC-church-stub