It would thus appear that the Sacro Monte was founded four years
earlier than the received date. The formal deed of conveyance of the
site on the mountain from the town to Bernardino Caimi was not signed
till the 14th of April 1493; but the work had been already commenced,
as is shown by the inscription still remaining over the reproduction
of the Holy Sepulchre, which is dated the 17th of October 1491.
Probably the work was contemplated in 1486, and interrupted by B.
Caimi's return to Jerusalem in 1487, not to be actively resumed till
1490.


"The first stone," says Mr. King, "was laid by Scarognini, a Milanese
'magnifico,' who cordially entered into the scheme; and at his
expense the Holy Sepulchre was completed, and a hospice attached,
where the founder and a number of Franciscan brothers came to reside
in 1493. Caimo had planned a vast extension of this commencement,
but died within three years, leaving his designs to be carried out by
his successors."

. . .

"Each oratory contains a group--in some very numerous--of figures
modelled in terra-cotta the size of life or larger; many of them of
great merit as works of art, others very inferior and mere rubbish.
The figures are coloured and occasionally draped with appropriate
clothing, the resemblance to life being heightened by the addition of
human hair"--[which, by the way, is always horse-hair]--"and the
effect is often very startling. Each chapel represents a different
'mystery,' and, beside the modelled figures, the walls are decorated