December 12 of that same year. New Basilica of Guadalupe (modern basilica) The new basilica is to the west of the Atrio de las Américas and to the south of the Tepeyac hill. It was built due to the need to house the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and allow access to a greater number of pilgrims, as the old temple was unstable and dangerous. The new building was designed by the architects: José Luis Benlliure, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Alejandro Schoenhofer, Friar Gabriel Chávez de la Mora, Antonio S. Gómez Palacio and Javier García Lascuráin. Its construction began in 1974 during the abbotship of Monsignor Guillermo Schulenburg, with Odilón Ramírez Pelayo, the lawyer of the Basilica of Guadalupe for many years, in charge of the legal procedures for the acquisition of the land. Pelayo also contracted the architects to design the building, and managed the construction of the small chapel dedicated to the New Basilica of Guadalupe inside St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. On October 12, 1976, when the work was finished, the Guadalupe image was taken in procession to its new sanctuary. Having a circular shape to symbolize the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant on its march through the desert, the building was built with reinforced concrete for the roof structure, covered with green oxidized copper sheets. In 1980, Monsignor Guillermo Schulenburg, abbot of the basilica, asked Pedro Medina Guzmán for a mural painting for the tabernacle, which was finished at the end of the same year called "The gift of the Resurrection". As well as the murals found in the crypts with the theme of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe to San Juan Diego. It has seven entrances to the front, above which there is an open chapel with a certain reminiscence of the atriums of the 16th century, from which mass can be celebrated for those present in the atrium. Above this chapel is a large cross, and above it and at the top of the roof is a monogram of Mary with another cross in the center. To prevent the settling of the land that occurred in surrounding buildings, this was built using 344 control piles, the work of engineer Manuel González Flores. As the interior is circular and self-supporting (without supporting members to obstruct the view), the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe can be seen from everywhere