Maria Plain pilgrimage church, Catholic pilgrimage church in Bergheim, Salzburg, Austria
Maria Plain pilgrimage church is a baroque building in Bergheim, Austria, featuring two towers and a bright interior decorated with stucco work, gold accents, and white and blue tones. The main altar houses a painting of Mary's Assumption by Frans de Neve, with the venerated image of the Virgin Mary with Jesus positioned beneath it.
Archbishop Max Gandolf von Kuenburg began the pilgrimage church in 1671; Giovanni Antonio Dario built it between 1671 and 1674, and the archbishop consecrated it on 12 August 1674, handing it to the Benedictines who then led Salzburg University. In 1676 Max Gandolf brought the original devotional image, by then in Augsburg, to Maria Plain. On 4 July 1751 the image was crowned with crowns blessed by Pope Benedict XIV; Pius XII raised the church to basilica minor in 1952.
The church is the seat of the Maria Trost brotherhood, founded in 1681 by the Benedictines who then led the University of Salzburg. On 4 July 1751 the image of Maria Plain was crowned with crowns blessed by Pope Benedict XIV. At the 1774 centenary, 6,000 people received communion at a single Mass celebrated by canon Joseph Philipp Adam Count of Strassoldo.
The church stands on the Plainberg hill north of Salzburg, in the Maria Plain district of Bergheim. The south facade with its two towers faces the approach, and the main portals are on this side. The Calvary hill next to the church was renovated in 2005/06 and can be visited on foot.
The venerated image is an early 17th-century painting. Archbishop Max Gandolf von Kuenburg brought the original, which had reached Augsburg, to Maria Plain in 1676. In 1751 it was crowned with crowns blessed by Pope Benedict XIV, and in 1732 its 1679 frame received a radiant halo, later fitted with rocaille ornament.
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