High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano is Catholic a minor basilica church and National Shrine in the city of San Juan Capistrano, California, in the Diocese of Orange. Built in 1984, just north and west of historical Mission San Juan Capistrano, the church`s design is patterned after the Mission`s old stone church which was begun in 1797 and collapsed in 1812, but is twenty percent larger. The church was designed by architect John Bartlett and built by Joseph Byron Jr of Alex Sutherland Construction. The interior was designed by historian Norman Neuerberg, who painted much of decorative and sacred art which adorns the walls.