Klagenfurt, Maria Loretto Peninsula
Photo: detail Johann Jaritz
Black Madonna of Loreto (copy)
In the chapel of the castle (Schlosskapelle) Maria Loretto, Lorettoweg 52, 9020 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, imported from Italy in 1652
Klagenfurt is the capital of the state Carinthia, (Kärnten). In 1652 Earl Johann Andreas von Rosenberg had a castle built on what was then an island in Lake Wörther (now a peninsula). It included this chapel, built in honor of the Black Madonna of Loreto and in commemoration of the victory in 1620, of the Catholic allies in the battle at Mt. Weißen near Prag, in which the earl had fought.
The chapel of the castle, a copy of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy
Apparently, this family was a big fan of everything Italian. The castle was built “Italian style”¹, the island was named after the most famous Black Madonna of Italy, whose chapel they copied, and in 1683, the generation following this earl took the name of the old Italian princely Orsini family. Henceforth they were known as the earls of Orsini-Rosenberg.