Maria Puchheim, Parish church in Attnang-Puchheim, Austria.
Maria Puchheim is a pilgrimage and parish church in Attnang-Puchheim, Upper Austria, built in the Neo-Renaissance style with two facade towers. The three-nave church was added west of Puchheim Castle, whose former St. George's castle church it adjoins. Its interior holds 90 ceiling and wall paintings in the Nazarene style, designed by the Bavarian monk Max Schmalzl.
A castle church dedicated to St George was first documented in a 1242 foundation deed and burned with Puchheim castle in 1585. After a Marian image was placed in the rebuilt St George's church in 1870, pilgrimage grew and the church became too small. The five-aisled pilgrimage church was built from 1886 to 1890 to plans by architect Richard Jordan under rector Pater Matthias Paprian, with interior work finished in 1896. It became a basilica minor in 1951 and a parish church in 1968.
The pilgrimage image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, placed in the St George castle church in 1870, made Puchheim a pilgrimage site; it was moved to the new church on 21 June 1891. Since 1965 a cellar stage (Kellerbühne) has performed theatre in the basilica's basement, with some 85 productions and around 300 participants from Attnang-Puchheim and neighbouring parishes.
The church is located on Gmundner Straße in Attnang-Puchheim and is easy to reach on foot from the town center. Visitors interested in attending services should check times in advance, as they vary throughout the week.
The five altars were carved in the St. Uflesser workshop in Val Gardena. The high altar holds a copy of the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, probably painted by a monk in the 14th century; it was set up in the St. George church in 1870 and moved to the new church on 21 June 1891.
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