The Sacro Monte di Oropa (literally ‘Sacred Mount of Oropa’) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

devotional complex in the

province of Biella The province of Biella (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia ëd Biela'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. It was created in 1992 and its capital is the city of Biella. Culture Biella is home to th ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, northern Italy. It is one of the nine

Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy The (plural of , Italian for "Sacred Mountain") of Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth centu ...

and is on the

UNESCO World Heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by int ...

list. It is a stop-over on the CoEur devotional path.

Description

Construction began in 1617, near the pre-existing

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

of Black Virgin of Oropa, one of the oldest in

and one of the best known in the region of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. The 12

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

s (plus another seven nearby) are united by a

devotional Devotional may refer to: * Acts of devotion, especially those repeated regularly * Devotional song, a hymn which accompanies religious observances and rituals * ''Devotional'' (video), of the 1993 Depeche Mode tour * Daily devotional, religious p ...

path, and inside these

s scenes from the story of the life of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

are represented. The minute dimensions and expressions of the characters, the shades and colour tones and the vivid, precise settings of the episodes envelop the visitor in a warm atmosphere which grows from one

to the other until reaching Paradise (chapel XV – The Crowning of Mary), on the top of the hill, a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

work of art by the brothers

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

and Antonio d'Enrico, animated by 156 modelled figures.

References

External links

Sacro Monte di Oropa

SacriMonti.net
, web site for European Sacred Mounts. {{Coord, 45, 37, 43, N, 7, 58, 41, E, display=title, region:IT-BI_type:landmark_source:dewiki Religious buildings and structures in the Province of Biella World Heritage Sites in Italy

Oropa Oropa is a ''frazione'' of the municipality of Biella, in Piedmont, northern Italy. It is famous for the Black Virgin of Oropa statue, which is located in the Sanctuary of Oropa, the List of basilicas in Italy, basilica of the Sacro Monte di Oro ...

Oropa Tourist attractions in Piedmont Biellese Alps 1617 establishments in Italy

Description

See also

References

External links