Mariazell
Encyclopedia
Mariazell is a small city in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, in Styria
Styria (state)
Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states, covering 16,401 km². It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. ...

, well known for winter sports, 143 km N. of Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

. It is picturesquely situated in the valley of the Salza
Salza (Austria)
The Salza is an eastern tributary of the Enns. It originates on the Traisenberg in Lower Austria and flows South of Mariazell through the Styrian nature preserve of Wildalpener Salzatal...

, amid the north Styrian Alps.

It is the most important pilgrimage site in Austria and also has great meaning for Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

s in the neighboring countries to its east. The object of veneration is a miracle-working image of the Virgin, carved in lime-tree wood. This was brought to the place in 1157, and is now enshrined in a chapel lavishly 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 Turks in 1363. In the vicinity of Mariazell is the pretty Alpine lake of Erlaufsee.

History

In pre-Christian times and in the first century after Christ there was no trace of large or enclosed settlements in the area of modern Mariazell. The large number of Illyrian and Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic mountain and river names in the region, such as for example the Erlauf
Erlauf
Erlauf is a town in the district of Melk in the Austrian state of Lower Austria....

, however suggest small settlements by these tribes. The salt springs
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 in Halltal were not unknown to these groups.

By 16 AD the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 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, under the leadership of the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

, 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, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...

 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
Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....

, decided in 1151 in favor of the Monastery of St. Lambrecht. It was allowed to control part of the parish territory of Mariazell and the of dominion of Aflenz
Aflenz Kurort
Aflenz Kurort is an Austrian municipality in the District of Bruck an der Mur, Styria.-Geography:There is only one borough in Aflenz: Aflenz-Kurort.Neighboring communities include: Aflenz Land, Thörl, Etmißl, Sankt Ilgen, and Turnau.-History:...

. 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
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

.

Between 1340 and 1380, the church was rebuilt in the gothic style.

In 1420, the Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 came to Mariazell for the first time and burned the church and the town.

In 1474, another fire devastated the town.

In 1532, the Turks returned to Mariazell and set more houses on fire.

1644: The "baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

-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
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...

 visits the shrine, and a valet in his entourage brings the plague to Mariazell. Fear and terror take hold as 156 townspeople fall victim to the disease.

1683: Fears of a new Turkish invasion cause 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 grants Abbot Eugen Inzaghi the privileges of an Archabbot over Gollrad and Aschbach, as well as over the Mariazell cast iron works.

1786: Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

 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.

1798: A conflagration destroys the town; the area of Wiener Straße is especially hard hit.

1805: The first French invasion
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

 and combat operations occur in the area of Mariazell.

1809: Faced with the French advance, church treasures are brought to Temesvár
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...

 in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 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 Johann of Austria
Archduke John of Austria was a member of the Habsburg dynasty, an Austrian field marshal and German Imperial regent .-Biography:...

 introduces the potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

 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
Mariazellerbahn
The Mariazell Railway is an electrically operated narrow-gauge railway which connects the Lower Austrian capital Sankt Pölten with the Styrian pilgrimage centre of Mariazell.- Valley Line :...

, finished the previous year, is opened for public transport. That same year, the Mariazell Basilica
Mariazell Basilica
The Mariazell Basilica is a Marian basilica in Mariazell, Austria. It is the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria and one of the most visited shrines in Europe...

 is elevated to a Basilica Minor.

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
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

 to be built in Austria. That same year, the water system in expanded around the "Student-Quelle".

1945: The Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 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
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

, 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
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...

.

1983: Pope John Paul II 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
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

 states bring 25,000 participants to Mariazell.

1992: The Bendictines
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...

 of Kremsmünster
Kremsmünster
Kremsmünster is a town in Kirchdorf an der Krems , in Upper Austria, Austria. Its population is 6,450, as of 2001. Settled in 777, it is home to the Kremsmünster Abbey....

 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
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

 visits Mariazell to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the foundation of the Shrine of Mariazell.

Municipal Council

The municipal council consists of 15 members and since the 2005 elections consists of the mandates of the following parties:
  • 10 ÖVP
    Austrian People's Party
    The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...

  • 4 SPÖ
    Social Democratic Party of Austria
    The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...

  • 1 FPÖ
    Freedom Party of Austria
    The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...


City Council

The city council consists of the following members:
  • Helmut Pertl (ÖVP) – Mayor
  • Josef Demmerer (ÖVP) - Vice-Mayor
  • Gottfried Schöggl (SPÖ) - 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
Mariazell Basilica
The Mariazell Basilica is a Marian basilica in Mariazell, Austria. It is the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria and one of the most visited shrines in Europe...

, 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. 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
Roman Catholicism in Austria
The Catholic Church of Austria, part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, is under the leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome, and the Conference of Austrian Bishops. The Austrian church is the largest Christian denomination of Austria, with, according to the 2001 census, 5.9 million people...

.

Business and infrastructure

Mariazell lies on the highway B 20, which goes from St. Pölten over the Seebergsattel
Seebergsattel
Seebergsattel , also just Seeberg is a high mountain pass connecting Bad Eisenkappel in the Austrian state of Carinthia with Jezersko in the Slovenian region of Carinthia...

 to Kapfenberg
Kapfenberg
Kapfenberg is a city in Styria, Austria, near Bruck an der Mur. The town's landmark is Burg Oberkapfenberg. Main employer in the city of Kapfenberg was and still is the steel manufacturer Böhler....

 im Mürz
Mürz
The Mürz is a river in Austria.It begins north of the Schneealpe in Lower Austria, flows into Styria, and meets the Mur River after 98 km in Bruck an der Mur. Its headwaters end at Mürzzuschlag. Along its course are the tracks of the Southern Railway as well as the Semmering Highway....

 Valley. There is a connection through the Salza Valley to the east either over the Gscheid to St. Aegyd am Neuwalde
St. Aegyd am Neuwalde
Sankt Aegyd am Neuwalde is a market town in the district of Lilienfeld, Lower Austria.-Geography:St. Aegyd is divided into the districts of Kernhof, Lahnsattel, Mitterbach, St. Aegyd am Neuwalde, and Ulreichsberg. The town is located in the Mostviertel. 87.61 percent of municipal territory is...

, into the Piesting
Piesting
The Piesting is a river in southern Lower Austria. Its sources are the Kalte Gang, the Steinapiesting, and the Längapiesting, which begin south of the Schneeberg....

 Valley und then further into the Viennese Basin (B 21) or over the Lahnsattel into the Mürz Valley and onward to Mürzzuschlag
Mürzzuschlag
Mürzzuschlag is a town in northeastern Styria, Austria, the capital of the Mürzzuschlag District. It is located on the Mürz river near the Semmering Pass, the border with the state of Lower Austria, about southwest of Vienna. The population is 8,745...

 (B 23).

Mariazell is also the southern endpoint of the Mariazellerbahn
Mariazellerbahn
The Mariazell Railway is an electrically operated narrow-gauge railway which connects the Lower Austrian capital Sankt Pölten with the Styrian pilgrimage centre of Mariazell.- Valley Line :...

; however, the station lies around 1 km from the city center in the municipal territory of Sankt Sebastian
Sankt Sebastian, Austria
Sankt Sebastian is a municipality in the district of Bruck an der Mur in Styria, Austria.-References:...

.

Twin towns - Sister cities

Mariazell is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with: Esztergom
Esztergom
Esztergom , is a city in northern Hungary, 46 km north-west of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom county, on the right bank of the river Danube, which forms the border with Slovakia there....

 in Hungary (since May 6, 2002) Loreto
Loreto (AN)
Loreto is a hilltown and comune of the Italian province of Ancona, in the Marche. It is mostly famous as the seat of the Basilica della Santa Casa, a popular Catholic pilgrimage site.-Location:...

 in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...


External links


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