Mariazell (
Central Bavarian: ''Mariazöö'') is an
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
city in the southeastern state of
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered ...
. Well known for being a hub of
winter sports
Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold a ...
and a pilgrimage destination, it is located north of
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...
. It is picturesquely situated in the valley of the
Salza, amid the north Styrian
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
.
It is a site of pilgrimage for
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
s from Austria and neighboring countries. The object of veneration is an image of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
reputed to work
miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
s, carved in lime-tree wood. This was brought to the place in 1157, and is now enshrined in a chapel adorned with objects of silver and other costly materials. The large church of which the chapel forms part was erected in 1644 as an expansion of a smaller church built by
Louis I, King of Hungary, after a victory over the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
in 1363.
History
There is no trace of large or enclosed settlements in the area of modern Mariazell dating from pre-Christian times or the first century AD. The large number of
Illyrian and
Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic mountain and river names in the region, such as for example the
Erlauf, however, suggest small settlements by these tribes. The
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
springs in Halltal were not unknown to these groups.
By AD 16 the
Romans were using the salt roads of Halltal and the
Traisental. According to some accounts, there also was a Roman road going to Neuhaus.
In 600 the
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
, under the leadership of the
Avars, took control of the land and settled in the mountain region and began farming. The expansion of these peoples also accounts for the existence of some of the town and mountain names today.
In 1025,
Emperor Conrad II
Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...
gave his sister-in-law Beatrix, married to
Adalbero of Eppenstein, parts of the county in the Mürztale as a gift. With this gift came around 100 ''Huben'', which belonged to the territory of the future market of Mariazell.
There was an argument for one year over this gift involving the Reichsgericht and even the Pope. Eberhard,
Archbishop of Salzburg
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese ...
, decided in 1151 in favor of the
Monastery of St. Lambrecht. It was allowed to control part of the parish territory of Mariazell and of the dominion of
Aflenz
Aflenz is since January 2015 a new market town with 2,421 residents (as of 1 January 2016) in Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District of Styria, Austria.
The municipality was founded as part of the Styria municipal structural reform,
on 31 December 2014, fr ...
. The date, December 21, 1157, is taken off a document from Pope
Adrian IV, still traditionally celebrated as the date of Mariazell's establishment, even though it cannot be proven historically.
In 1157, Monk Magnus came into the Zellertal with a lime-tree wood statue of the Virgin Mary and founded the first chapel there, around which the town later grew. The town's name derived from the description "Mary in the cell", i.e. in the monk's chapel.
In 1344, Mariazell was elevated to the status of
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
.
Between 1340 and 1380, the church was rebuilt in the
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style.
In 1420, the Turks of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
invaded Mariazell for the first time and burned the church and the town.
In 1474, another fire devastated the town.
In
1532
Year 1532 (Roman numerals, MDXXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
* January 22 – São Vicente, São Paulo, São Vicente is established as ...
, the Turks returned to Mariazell and set more houses on fire.
1644: The "
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
-ization" of the church is begun by Abbot Benedikt Pierin, and the commission is given to Master Builder Sciassia. After his death the construction is continued by various other workers before being completed in 1780.
1679: Emperor
Leopold I visited the shrine, and a valet in his entourage brought the plague to Mariazell. Fear and terror took hold as 156 townspeople fell victim to the disease.
1683: Fears arising from yet another Ottoman
invasion
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing ...
caused the holy statue as well as the treasury images to be sent to St. Lambrecht, from which they were returned later that year.
1742: The Empress granted Abbot Eugen Inzaghi the privileges of an Archabbot over Gollrad and Aschbach, as well as over the Mariazell cast iron works.
In 1782,
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...
wrote the Mariazell Mass, for pilgrims to the Basilica in Mariazell. The mass was commissioned at the request of the pilgrims, through a military officer.
In 1786, Emperor
Joseph II
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
dissolves the Monastery of St. Lambrecht, from which Mariazell was serviced, in the course of his cloister abolishments. The pilgrimages are hampered and later completely forbidden.
In 1798, a conflagration destroys the town; the area of Wiener Straße is especially hard hit.
1805: The
Battle of Mariazell is fought in the area during the
War of the Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition)
* In French historiography, it is known as the Austrian campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Autriche de 1805) or the German campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Allemagne de 1805) was a European conflict spanni ...
as the French invade Austria.
1809: Faced with a French advance in the
War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis I and Napoleon's French Empir ...
, church treasures are brought to
Temesvár in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
for security. A few weeks later, the French arrive at Mariazell. Combat operations, requisition, and crop failures lead in these years to a massive decrease in population.
1816: A great famine takes place.
Archduke Johann
Archduke John of Austria (german: Erzherzog Johann Baptist Joseph Fabian Sebastian von Österreich; 20 January 1782 – 11 May 1859), a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, was an Austrian field marshal and imperial regent (''Reichsverwese ...
introduces the
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...
and plants it in the poor fields of the area to combat hunger.
1818: Archduke Johann buys the Brandhof.
1827: Mariazell's largest fire, which incinerates almost the entire town, and leaves the church with great fire damage, occurs on
All Souls' Night.
1828 - 1832: The town is rebuilt with great hardship and suffering.
1892: The idle boring machine of the cast-iron factory is converted to a power plant; the following year, Mariazell gets electric power for the first time.
1896: The building of the first public water service begins.
1898: The Mariazell cast iron factory is shut down.
1907: The
Mariazellerbahn, finished the previous year, is opened for public transport. That same year, the
Mariazell Basilica is elevated to a
Basilica Minor
In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...
.
1911: The Mariazellerbahn becomes electric.
1924: The first festival in the newly built festival theatre is begun.
1925: The festivals reach their high point. In the following years, financial decline brings them to an end.
1928: A gondola to the
Bürger Alps becomes the first
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ...
to be built in Austria. That same year, the water system in expanded around the "Student-Quelle".
1945: The
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
enters Mariazell and takes accommodations for 5,000 men.
1948: Mariazell is elevated to the status of a city.
1955 - 1957: A general restoration of the church takes place. During these years, a by-pass and a new post office are built.
1966: The fathers of the Kremsmünster Monastery separate from the fathers of the
Schottenstift, who had been in charge of the ecclesiastical leadership of Mariazell since 1949. In the following years, extensive restoration work is done on the church, the
priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...
, and the nearby chapel. The new rosary path is also built during this time.
1976: Mariazell gains an indoor swimming pool and, a few years later, the enlargement of its
Hauptschule
A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
.
1983: Pope
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
visits Mariazell. The papal altar is built in the main plaza. In the course of this great event, the entire city receives a façade facelift, the main plaza is redesigned, and parks are created.
1990: Thanksgiving and freedom pilgrimages from the former
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
states bring 25,000 participants to Mariazell.
1992: The
Bendictines of
Kremsmünster transfer the duty of pastoral care for the pilgrimages into the custody of the founding monastery and mother cloister of St. Lambrecht.
2004: Central European Catholic Day - a pilgrimage of the people to Mariazell brings over 100,000 visitors.
2007:
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...
visits Mariazell to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the foundation of the Shrine of Mariazell.
Politics
Municipal council
The municipal council has 15 members; the 2010 elections returned:
*8
ÖVP
*4 Gemeinsam für Mariazell
*3
SPÖ
City council
The city council consists of the following members:
*Josef Kuss (ÖVP) – Mayor
*Helmut Schweiger (ÖVP) - Vice-Mayor
*Walter Surböck (Gemeinsam für Mariazell) - Financial Officer
Coat of Arms
The city coat of arms shows a black shield with a stylized depiction of the Gothic archway of the Mariazell Basilica in gold. Before it stands the gold-crowned Mariazeller Madonna with a similarly crowned Christ Child on her right arm. The Madonna wears a blue cloak and is wrapped in a silver-white robe, as is the Christ Child. The chests of both figures are adorned with a small cross.
Culture and landmarks
Most notable about the
Mariazell Basilica, built in the 14th and 15th centuries but with a superb baroque interior, are the three towers on its western front. The church houses the ''Magna Mater Austriae'' ("Great Mother of Austria") in its so-called ''Gnadenkapelle'' (“Grace Chapel”). The holy image is a small wooden
Marian statue from the 13th century, which is clothed in a splendid garment and plays a great role in the popular devotions of many
Austrian Catholics.
Transport
Mariazell lies on the highway B 20, which goes from
St. Pölten over the
Seebergsattel to
Kapfenberg
Kapfenberg , with around 22,609 inhabitants, is the third largest city in Styria, Austria, near Bruck an der Mur. The town's landmark is Burg Oberkapfenberg. Its main employer is the steel manufacturer Böhler.
The town has a swimming complex, ...
im
Mürz Valley. There is a connection through the Salza Valley to the east either over the Gscheid to
St. Aegyd am Neuwalde, into the
Piesting Valley und then further into the
Viennese Basin (B 21) or over the Lahnsattel into the Mürz Valley and onward to
Mürzzuschlag (B 23).
Mariazell is also the southern endpoint of the
Mariazell railway line, a
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
electric railway
A railway electrification system supplies electric power to Rail transport, railway trains and trams without an on-board Prime mover (locomotive), prime mover or local fuel supply.
Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling pa ...
from
St Pölten
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosoph ...
. However the terminus of the line at
Mariazell station lies around north of the city center in the municipal territory of
Sankt Sebastian. The station is also the terminus of the ''
Museumstramway Mariazell-Erlaufsee'', a
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...
heritage
Heritage may refer to:
History and society
* A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today
** Cultural heritage is created by humans
** Natural heritage is not
* Heritage language
Biology
* Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...
steam tramway
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
that operates to the nearby
Erlaufsee.
Mariazell Airport is a private use
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
that is located north-northwest of Mariazell.
International relations
Twin towns - Sister cities
Mariazell is
twinned with:
*
Esztergom
Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river ...
in Hungary
''(since May 6, 2002)''
*
Loreto in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
References
*
;Notes
External links
Eurovia - Association for the Establishment of European Pilgrimage Routes
Central European Catholic Day (''Mitteleuropäischer Katholikentag'')Bazillika MariazellMariazell und das Mariazeller Land
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District
Catholic pilgrimage sites