Mariazell is Austria’s most important Catholic pilgrimage destination, drawing over a million visitors a year to a Styrian alpine village built almost entirely around the Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary. The Habsburgs, the dynasty that ruled Austria for six centuries, were devoted to the shrine and funded its Baroque (gold-decorated, grand, Counter-Reformation era) rebuilding after Leopold I attributed a military victory over the Turks to its intercession in 1664. At the center of the church is the Gnadenkapelle, a Gothic chapel housing a small medieval wooden Madonna figure that is the actual object of pilgrimage. The best approach is the Mariazellerbahn narrow-gauge railway from St. Pölten, a 2-hour scenic ride through the hills that functions as its own heritage attraction. The town produces Mariazeller Lebkuchen gingerbread and the Magenlikeur digestif. One overnight is enough to see the Basilica, the treasury with its Habsburg votive gifts, and the surrounding village.
village
Mariazell
The Habsburgs (the dynasty that ruled Austria for six centuries) made Mariazell the most important pilgrimage destination in their empire, and virtually every Austrian ruler made the journey at some point. Emperor Leopold I attributed his victory over the Turks at St.