400 Years = 400 Medals ... On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Loreto Sanctuary in Prague will present a limited-edition commemorative medal marking the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the place of pilgrimage. A limited number of medals will also be available for collectors in our museum shop.
The Marian feast days celebrated during this jubilee year have brought a number of special projects to Loreta. One of the highlights is this commemorative medal, issued to mark four centuries since the foundation of one of Prague's most important pilgrimage sites.
The medal, struck in brass and measuring 32 mm in diameter, features on its obverse the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Loreta, dressed in her traditional ceremonial robes and crowned together with the Christ Child. The depiction of the Loreta Madonna was inspired by Baroque engravings as well as by pilgrimage reliefs preserved in the Loreta Treasury. The obverse bears the inscription:
S. MARIA LAVRETANA / ORA PRO NOBIS
The reverse depicts the legendary Translation of the Holy House (Santa Casa) carried by angels, once again inspired by period engravings. Around the edge appears the inscription:
S. DOMVS LAVRETANA PRAGENSIS / 1626–2026
clearly referring to this year's jubilee.
A Limited Edition of Only 420 Pieces
The commemorative medals were struck by the Czech manufacturer Zlatohorská mincovna in a strictly limited edition of 400 numbered medals, accompanied by 20 artist's proofs, making a total of 420 examples worldwide.
Each medal has been individually mounted by hand in a specially designed presentation case, which has also been hand-numbered. The graphic design of the case is based on Baroque copper engravings and reflects the long-standing tradition of commemorative medals associated with the major Loreto pilgrimage shrines throughout Europe.
Inspired by an Eighteenth-Century Jubilee Medal
The new commemorative issue also pays tribute to an important historical predecessor.
In 1726, Prince Philip Hyacinth IV of Lobkowicz, patron of Prague Loreta, commissioned a large commemorative medal from the celebrated Nuremberg medallist Georg Wilhelm Vestner to mark the first centenary of the shrine. Vestner's medal, today surviving in only a handful of examples, served most probably as a prestigious presentation gift distributed by members of the princely family.
Its exceptional artistic quality became one of the principal sources of inspiration for the present commemorative medal, particularly in the use of the motif depicting the miraculous Translation of the Holy House.
Following the Tradition of the 1726 Jubilee Print
Another important source of inspiration was the commemorative print published in 1726, engraved in Prague by Antonín Birkhardt after a design by Jan Josef Dietzler.
Besides reproducing both sides of Vestner's medal, the print contains a Latin inscription incorporating a chronogramindicating the jubilee year 1726.
Inspired by this historical print, the reverse side of our presentation case reproduces both sides of the new medal together with a newly composed chronogram referring to the present jubilee year:
"ANNVS SAECVLARIS QVARTVS AB ORIGINE DOMUS LAVRETANAE, AEDIS PRAGENSIS"
(The Fourth Centennial Year Since the Foundation of the Loreto Sanctuary in Prague.)
Baroque Inspiration
The opposite side of the presentation case is decorated with a detail from a Baroque engraving depicting part of the western façade of the Holy House (Santa Casa). At its centre is the most important sculptural relief of the shrine—the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, representing the moment of the Incarnation, the central event in the history of salvation and the defining theme of every Loreto chapel.
A significant part of this limited issue has been reserved by the Capuchin Province in the Czech Republic as traditional presentation gifts for friends and benefactors of Prague Loreta. The good news for collectors is that a limited number of medals will also be available for purchase in our museum shop from 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.