Loretto, Burgenland

Copy of the Black Madonna of Loreto, Italy

The Austrian Loretto is a village in the state Burgenland, the statue is in the monastery church, Hauptpl. 22, 2443 Loretto, around 1644 A.D.

Austria has not just many copies of the Black Madonna of Loreto, but a whole village named after her! It was built in the 17th century to support a monastery, which in turn was built to honor the Black Madonna of Loreto and is an active community still today.

The original monastery was burnt to the ground by Turkish invader barely four decades after its completion, but the Black Madonna was saved and the complex rebuilt by 1707. The plague scourged the area in 1713 after which pilgrimages increased significantly as the faithful sought out the Black Madonna as protection against the Black Death.

Photo: Joa

The abbey of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in Loretto, Austria. Photo: Joa