Loreta, Baroque chapel in Kosmonosy, Czech Republic

Loreta is a Santa Casa chapel of the full-shell type, measuring 13.94 by 9.57 metres, surrounded by a single-storey ambulatory. The prismatic building has two portals with triangular pediments, pilasters on its longer sides, and niches holding statues of Old Testament figures and Marian legend characters. Four entrances open on the longer sides, and a small opening sits in the shorter front wall.

Heřman Jakub Černín z Chudenic founded the Loreto chapel in 1704; Jan Křtitel Alliprandi designed it and D. Bossi built it to his plans, with sculpture by Josef Jelínek of Kosmonosy. Consecrated in 1707 and entrusted to the Piarist college founded in 1688, the pilgrimage site was abolished in 1782 under the Josephine reforms but preserved and reconsecrated in 1831.

The chapel is a Santa Casa, a replica of the Holy House of Loreto, and pilgrimage care was entrusted in 1707 to the Piarist college founded in Kosmonosy in 1688. The site was suppressed under the Josephine reforms in 1782 and re-consecrated in 1831. The separate Baroque bell tower of 1673 by Francesco Caratti stands outside the walled area.

The pilgrimage site is entered from the north, where an ornamental gate interrupts the ambulatory; the separate Baroque bell tower of 1673 by Francesco Caratti stands outside the enclosed area. The Chapel of St Martin of 1702 is built into the eastern side of the ambulatory on the main axis of the Santa Casa.

The chapel's facade niches hold statues of Old Testament figures and Marian legend characters, carved by Josef Jelínek of Kosmonosy. The separate Baroque bell tower of 1673 by Francesco Caratti stands outside the walled pilgrimage area, so it is easy to miss when approaching from the north gate.