Pilgrimage Church Maria Straßengel

The Pilgrimage Church Maria Straßengel (German: Wallfahrtskirche Maria Straßengel) is a fourteenth century Gothic church located on a hill overlooking the market town of Judendorf-Straßengel in the district of Graz-Umgebung, a few kilometres northwest of Graz, Austria on the right bank of the Mur river.[1] The town was first mentioned in the year AD 860 as Strazinolum.[1]

Pilgrimage Church Maria Straßengel

The fourteenth century Gothic pilgrimage church was constructed between 1346 and 1355, and contains an important high altar.[1] 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.[1] The original plans for the high altar in white marble (1885) were originally drawn by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in 1687 but never carried out.[2] 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.