The story of this place
Built from 1631 as the Bohemian centre of Marian pilgrimage, the Loreta encloses a copy of the Holy House of Nazareth — the Santa Casa — believed to be where the Virgin received the Annunciation, wrapped in a lavish baroque cloister crowned by a bell tower. Its carillon of 27 bells, cast in Amsterdam and installed in 1694, chimes a Marian hymn every hour across Hradčany. The treasury dazzles with gold and silver liturgical objects, above all the Prague Sun, a gilded monstrance of the 1690s set with 6,222 diamonds. Curiosities include a shrine to St Wilgefortis, a bearded crucified woman venerated by those in unhappy marriages.