Museo Pontificio Santa Casa

The Museo Pontificio Santa Casa occupies the upper floor of the Apostolic Palace in Loreto. Its collections bring together paintings, tapestries, ceramics and ex votos accumulated at the shrine, documenting the artistic and devotional history of the Santa Casa.

Why it matters

The museum's holdings began to be assembled during Giuseppe Sacconi's restoration of the basilica between 1884 and 1905. Paintings, furnishings and objects that had accumulated at the shrine were gathered into a collection that illustrates the history of its choir, altars, pharmacy and devotional practices. The museum is housed in the western wing of the Apostolic Palace, designed by Bramante and completed by Luigi Vanvitelli.

What to notice

The Lotto room presents seven canvases by Lorenzo Lotto in the sequence conceived for the basilica choir. The collection also includes tapestries made after cartoons by Raphael, paintings by Cesare Maccari and Cristoforo Roncalli, known as il Pomarancio, and maiolica from the shrine's Spezieria. Ex votos in the Sala del Tesoro survived the Napoleonic requisitions of 1797 and a theft in 1974. The palace's architecture provides a setting for the collection, including its L-shaped plan, Doric portico and Ionic loggia.

Context and history

The Apostolic Palace began in the late fifteenth century to a design by Bramante. The work was directed in succession by Andrea Sansovino, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Giovanni Boccalini, and completed by Vanvitelli. The southern wing of the original plan was never realised. The museum's collections grew during and after Sacconi's restoration campaign, as objects from the shrine were preserved and organised in the palace.