Basílica Santuario San Juan de Ávila

The original Church of the Incarnation in a Jesuit school was founded 1568 with the aid of the Marquesses de Priego, the mediation of Francisco de Borja and the presence of Juan de Avila, who ask to be buried there, which he was.

As the church was small, the Jesuits decided to build a larger one in 1726, in the typical style, but the work was not completed due to the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. After the seizure of Mendizabal, it became private property, until Francisco de Alvear and Gomez de la Cortina, VI Count of Cortina, great local patrons, bought the land and the building and finished the church, conserving the Jesuit floor and returning it to the Jesuits. It was opened for worship in 1944.

Inside, in addition to the tomb of San Juan de Avila, a tomb of the house of Aguilar is preserved. Its paintings include an Angel of the Guard attributed to Valdes Leal, a Santo Domingo, attributed to Zurbaran, a Virgen de la Paz by an anonymous 16th century artist and various others attributed to Vicente Lopez.

The old Church of the Incarnation, which was later the Shrine of San Juan de Avila was raised to the category of a minor basilica by title decree for Basilicae Minoris on June 20, 2012, by the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Spanish cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera.

The basilica was dedicated to San Juan de Avila, patron saint of Spanish secular clergy and future Doctor of the Church in October 2012 and it holds his remains in the Ark of the Testament.