Mariazell Basilica

The tradition holds that a Benedictine monk named Magnus arrived in 1157 with a carved lime-wood figure of the Virgin, was blocked by a rock, prayed, the rock split, and he set up a cell - Maria in der Zelle - which became Mariazell. The figure, about half a metre high, is still there, on the Gnadenaltar under a silver canopy in the middle of the church, dressed in embroidered robes changed through the liturgical year. The building is Romanesque at the core with a Gothic tower between two baroque ones, a combination visible from the square, and the interior was worked over by Domenico Sciassia in the seventeenth century. It draws pilgrims from Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland and Croatia as well as Austria, and pilgrimage routes converge on the town on foot.

What you actually see

• The Magna Mater Austriae - the small lime-wood Madonna on the Gnadenaltar.
• Three towers together - a Gothic tower flanked by two baroque ones.
• Robed and changed figures - the Madonna's embroidered dress altered by season.
• Converging pilgrim routes - walking paths arriving from several countries.

When to go

All year; summer and September for the largest pilgrimages. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Major pilgrimage days fill the town and the church entirely. It is an active shrine - services take priority. The treasury has separate and limited hours.

Nearby

The Erlaufsee is close; the Mariazellerbahn runs north to Sankt Pölten.