The Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria stands on a low hill south of the port, and its bulk — a large Gothic church flanked by a later Baroque basilica — dominates the skyline of the southern city. The complex is one of the most important Marian shrines in Sardinia, venerated by sailors for centuries as the patron of seafarers. Christopher Columbus visited the shrine before his first voyage and named his first landfall in the New World after it — Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Gothic church (14th century) is the older structure; the adjoining baroque basilica was added in the 18th century when the original proved too small for the crowds. The statue of Our Lady of Bonaria, a Catalan Gothic figure in polychromed wood, is displayed above the high altar. The museum attached to the shrine displays votive offerings from grateful sailors going back five centuries — model ships, oil paintings of storms survived, sailors' tools.