Maria Trost, Gothic pilgrimage church in Fernitz-Mellach, Austria

Maria Trost is a late Gothic hall church built from 1506 to 1514, with a 64.3-metre west tower topped by a baroque onion dome added in 1742. Its three-aisled nave of four bays leads to a hall ambulatory choir around a central hexagonal pillar, and the interior measures 34 metres long and 16 metres wide.

A pilgrimage site since 1150, Fernitz had a Romanesque chapel built around 1160 for a miraculous statue of Mary. In 1314 Duke Frederick the Fair had a High Gothic church erected; two storeys of its tower survive on the north side. The present late Gothic hall church was built from 1506 to 1514 by the same workshop as Graz Cathedral, and the 64.3 m tower was added in 1669.

The name Maria Trost (Mary's Consolation) comes from the legend of a Marian statue that repeatedly returned to a thornbush in the meadows here. The church keeps a late-Gothic statue of Mary from around 1520 on the high altar, not the legendary figure. In the Kreuzkapelle, relics of Saint Zoticus were transferred from Rome in 1854.

The church stands in Fernitz, part of Fernitz-Mellach, and is reached on foot; parking is available nearby. The main portal of 1734 sits in the tower hall, and a doorway beside the Kreuzkapelle with the year 1506 leads into a vaulted room under the old tower. Check service times before entering.

Local legend tells of a statue of Mary that returned to a thornbush at this location three times despite being taken back to nearby Vasoldsberg. This tale helps explain why the place became such an important destination for pilgrims.