Passing by the bell-tower at the end of the square called also the upper
atrium, we reach the entrance of the shrine, made up of two pointed arches
surmounted by a triangular pediment adorned with friezes and arches. Between
two small rose windows there is a niche with the statue of Saint Michael
the Archangel which was placed there in 1865.
In 1994, in occasion of the XV centenary of Saint Michael apparitions on the Gargano, a bronze door, work of the sculptor Michele Tiquino, a native of Monte Sant'Angelo was donated by him to the shrine for the fifteenth centenary of the apparitions of Saint Michael on the Gargano.
The whole story of the shrine is represented on the panels of the door, from the beginning of its story up until the pilgrimage of John Paul II which took place in 1987.
Above, in line with the door, are placed two framed rectangular memorial
tablets. On the right one reads the following epigraph:
terribilis - est - locus - iste - hic - donus - dei - est - et - porta - coeli. (Impressive is this place. Here is the house of God and the gate of heaven.)
The memorial tablet on the left has this inscription:
non - est - vobis - opus - hanc - quam - aedificavi - basilicam - dedicate - ipse - enim - qui - condidi - etiam - consercravi. (It is not necessary for you to dedicate this Basilica which I have set up, because I myself, who have laid the foundations, have also consecrated it.)
Beneath each memorial tablet is a Gothic arched portal, of which the
one to the right is the most precious and goes back to the fourth century.
In the central lunette with Gothic arch dominates the figure of the Virgin
Mary carrying her divine Son in her arms;
