The lower part of one of these pillars was broken away by the Turks, so that it is only fastened from above.

On the strength of this circumstance many have averred that the pillar hangs suspended in air! Had these men but looked beyond their noses, had they only cast their eyes upwards, they could not have had the face to preach a miracle where it is so palpable that none exists.

A picture on the wall, not badly executed, represents the Annunciation.

The house of the Virgin is not shewn here, because, according to the legend, an angel carried it away to Loretto in Italy.

A few steps lead to another grotto, affirmed to be the residence of a neighbour of the Virgin, during whose absence she presided over the house and attended to the duties of the absent Mary.
Another grotto in the town is shewn as "the workshop of Joseph;" it has been left in its primitive state, except that a plain wooden altar has been added.