Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loreto

An important pilgrimage site in the Czech Republic, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loreto is a beautiful white Baroque building. Inaugurated in 1626 and blessed five years later, this religious site houses one of the many European replicas of the Santa Casa. According to Catholic tradition, this is the modest house where the Virgin Mary grew up, lived, and learnt about her divine maternity from the Angel Gabriel. Transported from Nazareth in the 13th century, the original Santa Casa is believed to be in the Italian town of Loreto. Along with the exquisite replica of the sacred site, a cloister and chapels were added here between the 17th and 18th centuries by the renowned Prague-based Dientzenhofer family of architects. They also designed the monument’s main façade. The tower houses the thirty bells of the famous carillon of Our Lady of Loreto. Spreading across three floors, with the largest weighing 270 kilograms, these bells play the ancient hymn of “Thousands of greetings to you” every hour between 10 AM and 5 PM. If you visit the sanctuary, be sure to stop by the museum of liturgical objects on the first floor. The collection is truly remarkable, and includes the “Prague Sun.” This is no ordinary relic—it is a prestigious monstrance made of gold and encrusted with diamonds. More than 6,000 of them, to be exact. These jewels were said to have come from the wedding gown of Countess Kolovrat, which was donated to the sanctuary upon her death.