Loretokirche (Salzburg)

The Loretokirche stands in Salzburg’s right-hand old town, just where the Neustadt begins. It belongs to the Loreto convent, a 17th-century foundation under the same UNESCO protection as the city’s historic core. The complex was built after Friedrich von Grimming gave 5,000 gulden in 1631, and the nuns arrived from Landshut during the Thirty Years War. The church itself was finished in 1648, rebuilt after the 1818 fire, and again after the 1944 bombing. Its plain façade hides a rectangular nave with a wooden coffered ceiling and an octagonal choir chapel. Above the marble portal is the coat of arms of Archbishop Paris Lodron, who commissioned the work. Inside, the 17th-century high altar shows the Tree of Jesse and a Trinity group, while three Black Madonna figures occupy side chapels. Visitors find the Maria Loreto Madonna in the right chapel, flanked by Saints Joachim and Anna and an angel bearing the Holy House. A wrought-iron screen from 1735 guards the sanctuary, and a 17th-century carved Trinity group crowns the rood beam. The left chapel holds the Maria Einsiedeln Madonna, and the central niche contains the Maria von Altötting figure.