The story
Welcome to Loretánské náměstí, one of the most atmospheric squares in all of Prague. As you stand before the ornate, cream-colored facade of the Loreta, you might hear the gentle peeling of the twenty-seven bells in the clock tower. Since the late seventeenth century, these bells have played a melody to the Virgin Mary every hour, setting a contemplative pace for everything that happens within these walls.
This is a place of deep pilgrimage, centered around a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth, but it also holds some of the city’s most surreal and sparkling secrets. Step inside the quiet cloisters and look for the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Here, you will encounter an image that stops almost every traveler in their tracks.
It appears to be a figure of Christ on the cross, but the figure is wearing a long, flowing silk dress. Look closer at the face, and you will see a full, thick beard. This is Saint Starosta, known elsewhere as Wilgefortis.
Local legend tells us she was a beautiful princess who had taken a vow of chastity. When her father, a pagan king, tried to force her into a marriage with a foreign prince, Starosta prayed for a miracle to make her unmarriageable. By the next morning, she had grown a coarse beard.
The wedding was immediately called off, but her father was so blinded by rage that he sentenced his own daughter to the same death as the savior she worshipped. It is a haunting, defiant image of faith that has stood in this chapel for centuries. But the Loreta offers more than just somber legends.
If you make your way to the Treasury on the upper floor, you will find yourself in the presence of one of the most valuable liturgical objects in Central Europe. It is called the Prague Sun, a diamond monstrance of breathtaking opulence. Designed by the famous architect Fischer von Erlach, this vessel was created to hold the consecrated host, but it looks more like a celestial explosion.
It is encrusted with exactly six thousand, two hundred and twenty-two diamonds. These stones weren’t just bought; they were a legacy from the Countess Ludmila Eva Františka Kolowrat. She was so devoted to the Loreta that she bequeathed her entire collection of wedding jewelry to be used for this purpose.
Imagine the master goldsmiths in Vienna, meticulously setting each of those six thousand stones into the silver-gilt rays so that it would catch the light and radiate like a literal star. Between the bearded saint’s sacrifice and the blinding brilliance of the Prague Sun, the Loreta reminds us that in this city, history is always a blend of the miraculous and the magnificent.