The complex includes the Gothic Catalan sanctuary, the convent of the fathers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, the basilica in neoclassical style and the monumental cemetery. The complex stands on the hill which the Catalans named Bon Aire (good air from which came Bonaria).
The oldest part consists of the sanctuary, built in the first half of the XIV century. A splayed portal with pointed arch and decorative rose window open up on the gabled elevation. Internally, there is a single nave onto which the presbytery with polygonal apse opens up; in the high altar, we find a simulacrum of the Madonna with Child or Our Lady of Bonaria, fourteenth century wooden work decorated in estofado de oro.
Consistent with the sanctuary’s front is the facade of the basilica, built in 1704 on the wishes of the Mercedarian Friars, from a project by the Turin architect, Antonio Felice De Vincenti and which was modified in neoclassic style by the architect Giuseppe Viani.
The austere facade in white limestone is divided into two orders: the large porch with three arches is towered over by a single opening with small balcony and triangular gable housing the Order’s coat of arms. The high octagonal dome covers the transept housing the marble and golden copper canopy dominating the high altar.
