It was created as a basilica in April of 2024, prior to May, the month dedicated to Mary A set of old walls at the site had long been venerated by Catholics as the ruins of a church to Our Lady of Good Counsel and by Muslims as that of a Bektashi Order khanqah.
The Ottoman government blocked off the walls when quarrels arose over which faith was entitled to their use, referring the matter to a commission including Jusuf Effendi Golemi and Shani Dedëjakupeva, who held that both Catholics and Muslims could worship there.
[2] In 1946, after the communist takeover, over two thousand pilgrims visited, but not long after, it was turned into a ballroom and eventually would be destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
[4] The project was funded by Simeone Duca, a noted theologian belonging to the Arbanasi community of Albanians in Zadar, Croatia.
[5] On April 26, 2024, coinciding with the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, the shrine was formally declared a minor basilica.