Tuesday, April 6 2010 (Part 7):Following lunch, we took a bit of a hike up past the castle and on to The Loreto. The Loreto was built in 1626. It's purpose was to house a replica of Santa Casa of Loreto, which is believed to be the house of the Virgin Mary in Loreto, Italy. The complex consists of a square building (referred to as the cloisters) building built around a courtyard in which sits a replica of Santa Casa. [Once again, taking photos was prohibited.]
The Loreto had a really wonderful audio tour which Katherine and I both thoroughly enjoyed. This complex was commissioned by a woman who wanted to promote the legend of this house. For hundreds of years, the Loreto has been maintained by a Franciscan order of monks.
Also located within the Loreto are several chapels (in each of the four corners) and a small church as well as two large statues and a "treasury." And finally, there is a bell tower that plays a particular hymn several times a day. We were disappointed that they did not play during the time that we were there.
The small church was particularly nice and had a number of impressive gold/gilt statues. The treasury was also impressive -- housing several bejeweled "monstrances" (which we had to look up to understand its purposes -- it houses the host for communion) and other reliquary.
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