The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Bonaria is joined today to the adjacent and more recent Basilica of the same name. Because of their very different histories, however, we have decided to treat the buildings separately, reproducing the single account of Manuela Manca, translated into English by Laurence Gambella, in two parts.

The Sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Of Bonaria was built around 1323-1325 by architects and workmen (the so-called "picapedrers") who came to Cagliari along with the army of the Infante Alfonso of Aragon. The style of this small church is similar to that of the chapel of Saint Agatha in Barcelona and evidences, for the first time in Sardinia, the Gothic-Catalan architectural model. After the construction of the Sanctuary in the new style, many other churches in the city and the island as a whole followed suit, eventually leading to the creation of a genuine Sardo-Catalan form. This, together with the Aragonese chapel (also known as the Chapel of the Sacred Thorn) at the Cathedral in Cagliari, remains one of the few survining witnesses to the Gothic-Catalan technique which the new conquerors brought into the city at the beginning of the C14th . (...)

The Sanctuary is made up of an ancient nave in which a number of spans equivalent to the sides of the polygonal apse are found, indicating that the architects came from Barcelona. The original vault was designed with a wooden roof. The damaged barrel vault which we see today does not go back to the first period of the church's construction, but was completed in a second stage.

In the Sanctuary there are seven chapels, three on the right and four on the left. Of the first group of chapels, only the entrance arch remains, since the space it occupied was sacrificed in the construction of the great Basilica next to the Sanctuary. However, the Gothic-Catalan style which it shares with the remaining chapels on the left side, is still unmistakably present. The presbytery is raised and is accessed by a very wide stairway.
The vault is decorated with two frescoes recounting the story of Our Lady of Bonaria. They were painted by Gina Baldracchini (also author of the "Our Lady of Ransom" fresco, which can be admired in the second chapel of the left nave, in the Basilica of Bonaria).
The apse of the Sanctuary is situated where the tower of the Aragonese castle used to be in the then city of "Castell del Bonayre", now used as a bell-tower. The polygonal apse and this ancient tower are the only remaining evidence of the first capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia, antagonist of the Castello of Cagliari. The tower can be seen from the park of Bonaria, behind the Basilica.

Beneath the presbytery, inside a niche situated in the first chapel on the right, there is a small statue, much more ancient than that of Bonaria, known as Our Lady of the Miracle. It goes back to the time of the construction of the church (1323). The sculpture depicts the virgin with the child in her arms. Though without any great artistic value, a miracle was attributed to it, hence the name. (...)

In the third chapel (the first from the entrance) of the right nave, on the wall, there is a painting which represents Our Lady of the Goldfinch. It is undoubtedly on of the most beautiful and precious works in the Sanctuary. The painting was part of a retable (the Bonaria Retable, later divided up) attributed to Michele Cavaro, an artist of considerable talent from around 1500. The picture is enclosed in a black marble frame with white veining and it clearly recalls the style of Raffaello. The scene depicted there portrays the Madonna with Jesus and Saint John the Baptist as children, the latter clambering onto the Virgin's lap to show Jesus a goldfinch. The three central figures are surrounded by angels: two are playing musical instruments, while another two are crowning the Madonna. In the background, there is a fabulous depiction of nature .

The Sanctuary facade is very simple and goes back to the enlargement works which were carried out in 1895. On that occasion the new gothic-style portal was installed (therefore conforming perfectly with the architecture of the Sanctuary), taken from the church of San Francesco in the Stampace district, unfortunately destroyed in 1875. On the lunette of the portal there is a small statue of Our Lady of Bonaria with a tiny boat in her right hand and the Infant Jesus in her arms. It is a copy of the statue of the Virgin found on the Sanctuary high altar.

From the Sanctuary one accedes to the Sacristy passing through an entrance near the first chapel on the left. This area, dating from 1666, has on its walls various large-sized paintings which represent the Cycle of work of Domenico Conti who completed them around 1670. The Sacristy, moreover, contains a number of extremely beautiful model ships, some of which are genuine reproductions, given to the Sanctuary as votive offering. Other fine models of ships are kept in the Bonaria Museum.
Coming out into the open, in the passageway adjacent to the sacristy, in a glass reliquiary fastened to the wall, the wooden casket is preserved, which landed on the beach at Bonaria in 1370 containing, according to tradition, the wooden statue of the Madonna now at the centre of the high altar in the Sanctuary. At the end of the passageway, a small chapel preserves other votive offerings donated by the faithful. There are a great number of small silver hearts hanging on the walls.

To read about the Basilica, press the button

To read the original italian text of Manuela Manca, press the button