Bird's-eye view of the church and cloister of the Minims at Brussels, with emblematic view of the transportation of Our Lady of Loreto.

28 x 19 cm (some marginal stains).

In 1621, Archduchess Isabella of Austria erected near the church of the Minims Fathers in Brussels, a chapel reproducing exactly the shape and dimensions of the Holy House of Loreto. According to tradition, the house in Nazareth where the Virgin Mary was born, grew up and received the announcement from the Archangel Gabriel, was miraculously transported in Loreto (Italy) at the end of the 13th century. In 1920, the Virgin of Loreto became the patron of aviators and air travellers! In Brussels, the chapel Notre-Dame de Lorette was built on the site of a bawdy house bought by the Archduchess, to symbolize the possibility that the prostitutes could be redeemed. The plate shows, on top, the Holy House with the Virgin and the Child being tranported through the air by angels and looking down on to the city, with the church and some buildings surrounded by a fortified wall, a sea with some ships in the background, and two pilgrims in the foreground. Below, a caption: "Het broederschap van onse L: Vrouwe van Loretten. / Opgherecht in de kercke van de PP: Minimen, tot Brussel".
Ref. Henne, A. & Wauters, A. - Histoire de la ville de Bruxelles. IV:39.