Maria-Loreto-Kirche in St Andrä

The Wallfahrtskirche Maria Loreto stands at the northern edge of St. Andrä’s old town in Carinthia. Built between 1683 and 1686 in the Baroque style, it is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The site had held a Loreto chapel since 1647, cared for by Dominican nuns until the monastery closed in 1782. In 1859 the Jesuits took charge, followed by the Benedictines in 2010. Pope Francis raised it to the rank of a minor basilica in 2014 after a two-year restoration. The church’s broad façade is divided into five bays by six giant pilasters, with three central portals topped by segmental and triangular pediments. Behind the façade rise two 60-metre towers capped by onion domes finished in copper in 2011. Inside, the six-bay nave stretches about 45 metres and is 40.5 metres wide at its broadest point. A flat barrel vault with lunettes covers the space, while the choir at the far end is simply finished except for its painted illusionist architecture from 1793. Visitors enter through the main portals into a lofty hall where the 1883 organ by Martin Hechenberger of Passau occupies the west end. The north chapel houses the tabernacle altar of 1713, while the south chapel serves as the baptistery. In the left porch stands the Loreto Chapel with its Black Madonna, and to the right the All Souls Chapel contains a classicist altarpiece. The sacristy and connecting monastery buildings lie north of the church, completing a quiet ensemble of worship and heritage.