The Loreto

The Loreto
Lauren Brooks
The other day Brooklyn and I ventured out on our own to examine this church and famous pilgrimage site. It was by far one of the weirdest and most interesting places I have been to so far in Prague. Looking at it afterwards it still feels like a very mysterious place. I don’t know where to begin. The Loreto is an Italian term and means the house where the annunciation of Jesus took place, it originated in Italy and when Christianity spread throughout Eastern Europe many replicas of these houses were built to help sway people to the Christian faith. All throughout Eastern Bohemia these churches sprang up and were very important in pilgrimages of the faith. It is connected with the Capuchin Order of Monks who still care for the chapel. It is widely by tourists for 2 main reasons, the immense collection of expensive jewels and the carillon bells.
Brooklyn and I had the chance to experience this amazing place and by far the most interesting exhibit were the immense and expensive jewels they had. The most expensive piece they had is called the Diamond Monstrance which features over 6,000 diamonds. This piece is only used on very very special occasions; the last time it was used was 1999 for a pilgrim celebration, over 300 years after it had been made. This room was literally blinding with the amount of jewels that these cups, altar pieces and crucifixes contained.
While I appreciate the splendor and the praise that these pieces of art were made for I also wonder where the line between worship and over-indulgence concerned in art is. The “gaudiness” of some of these pieces I really question? Couldn’t we hawk a bunch of these goblets, chalices, and altarpieces and feed like a third world country or half of Africa. I mean why do we need all this ornamentation, I don’t picture God as the kind of person who would want that gaudy chalice or altar piece, I think his focus would be on feeding the hungry, I mean isn’t that what our focus should be in being “like Christ”? Just something to think about the next time your church wants a new stain glassed window…