The Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca
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The Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca is a church situated to the south-west of Bologna’s city centre, on a hill called Guard Hill (Colle della Guardia). It is about 300m high. It is a very important church for the city because many pilgrims travelled there to see the icon of the Virgin Mary, climbing the road of porticoes.
The legend tells how the Virgin Mary icon was brought to Bologna from the Basilica of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople by a Greek hermit pilgrim and was a work by Luke the Evangelist. The pilgrim had to bring the icon to the Guard Hill (Colle delle Guardia) according to the inscription of the painting. When he arrived in Italy in a search of such a place, he was told in Rome that there was a Guard Hill in Bologna. So, the icon was brought to the city and placed in the church on the hill during the procession.
There is another legend connected with the icon called “the miracle of the rain”. Once, in the XVth century, there were heavy rains in the spring that looked set to destroy the crops, so it was decided to form a procession with the Virgin Mary icon. When the icon left the church, the rain stopped and, for the three-day procession, there was no more rain and the crops were saved. Since then, in Bologna, every year, on the first Sunday of July, the icon in taken in procession down the hill into the city and back again.
The church we see today was built in the XVIIIth century, though some reconstruction work took place even later. As well as the icon, inside the church, it is possible to see the works of famous Italian artists – Guido Reni, Guercino and others.
The porticoes were built in the XVIIth century to protect pilgrims from the rain. The road contains a symbolical number of 666 stairs and 15 chapels, covering a total area of 3.8 sq. km. The idea was that 666 stairs, the devil’s number, symbolize a snake that climbs the hill but stops at the foot of the church of the Madonna.
Between 1931 and 1976, a funicular carried passengers to the top of the hill.
The legend tells how the Virgin Mary icon was brought to Bologna from the Basilica of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople by a Greek hermit pilgrim and was a work by Luke the Evangelist. The pilgrim had to bring the icon to the Guard Hill (Colle delle Guardia) according to the inscription of the painting. When he arrived in Italy in a search of such a place, he was told in Rome that there was a Guard Hill in Bologna. So, the icon was brought to the city and placed in the church on the hill during the procession.
There is another legend connected with the icon called “the miracle of the rain”. Once, in the XVth century, there were heavy rains in the spring that looked set to destroy the crops, so it was decided to form a procession with the Virgin Mary icon. When the icon left the church, the rain stopped and, for the three-day procession, there was no more rain and the crops were saved. Since then, in Bologna, every year, on the first Sunday of July, the icon in taken in procession down the hill into the city and back again.
The church we see today was built in the XVIIIth century, though some reconstruction work took place even later. As well as the icon, inside the church, it is possible to see the works of famous Italian artists – Guido Reni, Guercino and others.
The porticoes were built in the XVIIth century to protect pilgrims from the rain. The road contains a symbolical number of 666 stairs and 15 chapels, covering a total area of 3.8 sq. km. The idea was that 666 stairs, the devil’s number, symbolize a snake that climbs the hill but stops at the foot of the church of the Madonna.
Between 1931 and 1976, a funicular carried passengers to the top of the hill.
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