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The complex is rather plain but set amid fragrant forests of pine and holm oak, and laid out around courtyards. There’s a good hostel, choir school, several eateries, camp sites, picnic facilities and a huge covered area for outdoor celebrations and services.

Facing an inner courtyard, the church’s façade is an appealing Baroque confection that relieves the plainness of the surrounding structures. The pompous bronze statue that dominates is that of a bishop who had a hand in sprucing the place up in the early 1900s.

The church was deemed a Minor Basilica by the Pope – its embellishments are probably the reason. Every spare inch seems to have been laden with beaten gold. The columns are dark red jasper, crystal chandeliers light the way, and the altarpiece is alive with golden curves and gesticulating figures.

In a special chapel stands the object of pilgrimage, La Moreneta (“the Little Dark One”) – or, to be more precise, a 15th-century, possibly Flemish version of her. Unfortunately, the 1960s light fixtures in the chapel detract from the atmosphere.

The boys’ choir, Es Blavets (The Blues), was established in 1531, named after their blue cassocks. Pilgrims and tourists queue up at 11am to hear the daily concerts.

A broad collection of Mallorcana includes prehistoric and ancient artifacts, coins, religious treasures, vestments, sculptures, ceramics and paintings, as well as model Mallorcan rooms from the 18th century.

Pieces from the original church include a fabulous gilded Byzantine trikerion (three-part sacred utensil) from 1390, a 15th-century wooden tabernacle, a graceful 15th-century Flemish Virgin and Child, a gold filigree reliquary for a Piece of the True Cross and several devotional paintings.

In the 15th century, Italy imported large amounts of tin-glazed pottery from Spain by way of the trade route through Mallorca, hence the term “majolica” from the medieval name of the island. Until the early 20th century, this type of pottery was also produced in Mallorca. Various examples are displayed.

The gallery of the old pilgrim’s hospice is a picturesque arcaded corridor, with stables on the ground floor and bedrooms off the passageway on the upper level. Declared a Historical Artistic Monument, it has recently been restored.

“The Way of the Mysteries of the Rosary” is a pilgrim’s route leading up the rocky hillside behind the complex, where a crucifix awaits. The broad path is punctuated by bronze sculptures framed in stone.