The shrine was started by the Order of Saint Augustine who needed a church of sufficient hierarchy and dimensions sufficient for a growing parish as well as pilgrims. The Catholic priest, Father Francisco Martínez de Espinoza, curate and vicar of the Villa of San Cristóbal, began the construction of the first temple dedicated to the Virgin of Táriba on 19 August 1690, which would later also be replaced due to repeated earthquakes and expansion.
Pope John XXIII raised the shrine to the status of Minor basilica via the Pontifical DecreeSolacium ac Levationem on 20 October 1959. The basilica enshrines a venerated Marian image that was granted a Pontifical decree of coronation titled Alacres Dei on 9 November 1959. The rite of coronation was executed on 12 March 1967 by the former Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal José Humberto Quintero Parra. The present church is dedicated to Our Lady of Consolation, the patroness of the state of Táchira.
The reconstruction of the building was made by the efforts of Monsignor Miguel Ignacio Briceño Picón and Monsignor Alejandro Fernández Feo during the period of 1904 and 1913. It was remodeled under the administration of Monsignor Alejandro Figueroa Medina in time for the date of canonical coronation of the Marian image.Шаблон:Clarify The basilica was critically rebuilt in the 1960s due to the financial contributions and patronage of Martín Marciales Moncada.
