SANTA CASA : PARETE  SETTENTRIONALE

The enormus importance that the Church attributed to the Holy House encouraged Giulio II and his successors to design a work without precedents capable of magnifyimg the centrality of the Marian cult.The job was entrusted to Donato Bramante in 1509who,working on the archies of triumph that were studied in Rome,conceived the extraordinary marble finishing with which the sacred walls were encircled.The proyect later passed into the hands of Andrea Sansivino,Antonio da Sangallo and Raniero Nerucci.It is undoubtedly the greatest and most complete cycle of the whole renaissance period throughout the world,within the working of which, Andrea Sansovino,Raffaello da Montelupo,Nicclò Tribolo,the Lombardi brothers and the della Partas, all partecipated.

Completed in 1538..."the monument has six double projections on its corners andin the middle of the two larger sides,decorated with coupled Corinthian with engraved columns posed upon a base that is rich with carvings".In the six pictures the glories of the earthly life of Our Lady are depicted:
1.The nativity of Mery
2.The Wedding of the Virgin 3.The Annunciation
4.The Birthof Jesus
5. The Adoration of the Kings
6.The Death of the Virgin
The scenes are announced by the ten statues of the Sibyls(upper niches)and by the ten Prohets
(lower niches)

THE HOLY HOUSE: OVERALL DEVELOPMENT OF
THE MARBLE WORK ON THE FOUR WALLS