Loreto Basilica (Basilica di Loreto) description and photos - Italy: Ancona (Topic)

Loreto Basilica (Basilica di Loreto) description and photos - Italy: Ancona. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Basilica di Loreto.

Photo and description

Loret Basilica, also known as Santa Casa - Holy House, is one of the main centers of pilgrimage in the Christian world, located in the vicinity of Ancona.

There is a legend that in the 4th century Empress Helen, while walking through the Holy Places, discovered the very house in which the Virgin Mary grew up, and in which the miracle of the Annunciation happened. Helen ordered to build a church over the house, but in the 13th century, during the next Crusade, this temple was destroyed, and the house of the Virgin Mary was in danger. In a mysterious way - according to legend, with the help of angels - the "holy house" was transferred to Dalmatia in the vicinity of the city of Rijeka. It is said that the Mother of God herself explained to the local bishop the origin of this building. Historians believe that he was transported to Rijeka by order of the despot Nicephorus I.

The further fate of the Holy House is no less mysterious - in the 13th century he miraculously ended up in the town of Loreto near Ancona, where a basilica was erected around it. Almost immediately after this, a tiny building with a length of only 8.5 meters and a width of 3.8 meters became one of the main shrines of Christian Europe. It is known that Rene Descartes and Pope Benedict XIV visited it, and exact copies of the Holy House were built in Prague and Warsaw. The building has a doorway on the north side and a window on the west, and inside a niche is an icon of the Virgin Mary with the Child, made of Lebanese cedar and richly decorated with precious stones.

The current building of the Loret Basilica in late Gothic style was built after the how in 1507 the Pope confirmed the authenticity of the Holy House with the help of special bulls. Giuliano da Maiano, Giuliano da Sangallo and Danto Bramante worked on the project of the temple, and the baroque bell tower is the creation of Vanvitelli. The interior of the basilica is decorated with priceless frescoes by Melozzo and Signorelli and mosaics by Domenichino and Guido Reni.

In front of the entrance to the church stands a huge statue of Pope Sixtus V, and a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child rises above the main doorway. The doors themselves were made at the end of the 16th century by Girolamo Lombardo, his sons and disciples, among whom was Tiburzio Vergelli, the author of the font of the basilica.

In front of the entrance to the church stands a huge statue of Pope Sixtus V, and a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child rises above the main doorway. The doors themselves were made at the end of the 16th century by Girolamo Lombardo, his sons and disciples, among whom was Tiburzio Vergelli, the author of the font of the basilica.

In front of the entrance to the church stands a huge statue of Pope Sixtus V, and a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child rises above the main doorway. The doors themselves were made at the end of the 16th century by Girolamo Lombardo, his sons and students, among whom was Tiburzio Vergelli, the author of the font of the basilica.

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Topic: Loreto Basilica (Basilica di Loreto) description and photos - Italy: Ancona.