The Pilgrimage Church Maria Straßengel () is a fourteenth century Gothic church located on a hill overlooking the market town of

Judendorf-Straßengel Judendorf-Straßengel () is a former municipality in the district of Graz-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Styria. Since the 2015 Styria municipal structural reform, it is part of the municipality Gratwein-Straßengel. Geography The town is loca ...

in the district of

Graz-Umgebung Bezirk Graz-Umgebung (, lit. ''Graz Surroundings'') is a district of the state of Styria in Austria. It forms a continuous ring around Graz, the capital city of Styria and also the seat of the district commission. Since the 2015 Styria municipal ...

, a few kilometres northwest of

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on the right bank of the Mur river. The town was first mentioned in the year AD 860 as ''Strazinolum''. The fourteenth century Gothic pilgrimage church was constructed between 1346 and 1355, and contains an important high altar. Once surrounded by fortified walls and guarded by a three-story tower (1355–66) with elaborate stonemasonry, the church still retains 77 sections of its fourteenth century Gothic stained-glass windows. The original plans for the high altar in white marble (1885) were originally drawn by

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, engraver, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundly influenced and shaped the tastes of the Habsburg Empire. His inf ...

in 1687 but never carried out. The pilgrimage church contains a piece of tree root shaped like Jesus on the cross. This root is not displayed to the public, but shown to people on request.

Gallery

Judendorf-Straßengel - Wallfahrtskirche Maria Straßengel.JPG, South view of the church Steiermark Maria Strassengel 2-2.jpg, Church exterior Maria Straßengel-West-Portal.JPG, West portal Judendorf-Straßengel - Maria Straßengel, Hauptchorraum.JPG, Church interior

References

External links

Maria Strassengel Pilgrimage Church
Churches in Austria Pilgrimage churches in Austria Gothic architecture in Austria 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Austria {{Austria-church-stub