It is said that already in 1071 a chapel have stood on the place of the present basilica. In 1240 the chapel was converted into a spacious church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The earliest official mention of a church in Gößweinstein however can be found in 1308 in the will of Gottfried von Schlüsselberg. The Schlüsselberg family is considered to be the founder of the first church, which became a pilgrimage church. The medieval church – although expanded several times - was soon unable to cope with the many pilgrims.

A new and much bigger church was built (1730 – 1739) during the reign of Prince-Bishop Friedrich Carl von Schönborn of Bamberg by the famous architect and builder Balthasar Neumann. He designed the floor plan, a Latin cross, and created what has come to be considered a baroque masterpiece. The magnificent art depicting biblical stories on the walls and ceiling inside the church was not complete until 1768 and it is quite breathtaking. There are also several highly decorated altars around the church.

The basilica is one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Germany. Especially in the spring and fall of each year, thousands of religious pilgrims come to the basilica to pray before the Gnadenbild, the basilica’s Statue of Mercy. The church was elevated to a Basilica minor in 1948 by Pope Pius XII.