Maria Bildstein, Catholic pilgrimage church at Benkner Büchel, Switzerland

Maria Bildstein is a pilgrimage site on the wooded eastern slope of the Benkner Büchel at 528 m, not on the summit. Its church, built 1965–66 to plans by Hans Burkard, is a two-nave structure with a side bell tower and a covered porch. The high altar holds a late-Gothic Madonna and Child; the crypt displays the original 1519 shrine with its Marian statue and glass paintings by Jost Blöchliger.

The pilgrimage began in 1519 when Johann Heinrich Jud carried a Marian statue to the hilltop, sparking construction of a stone shrine. Over subsequent centuries, it grew into a major destination for local believers.

The site's nickname "Gfrörer-Chappeli" recalls the swamp fever of the Linth plain, long called "Gfrörer", which the shrine was meant to ward off. The eleven grottoes show scenes from Christ's life or are dedicated to saints, and the Lourdes grotto is especially popular with pilgrims. The Calvary path, begun in the 1880s on Johann Anton Hafner's initiative, mixes Neo-Renaissance stations with a crucifixion group and a burial grotto.

The site lies at 528 m on the eastern side of the Benkner Büchel, in the middle of the forest, and is reached on foot via several hiking trails or by the access road from Benken. The church forecourt has rows of stone benches for pilgrims. A kiosk, toilets and three restaurants are nearby.

The eleven grottoes and chapels, along with the Calvary, were built on the initiative of Johann Anton Hafner (1862–1929). Art historians consider the arrangement of chapels set into the forested slope a rarity in the northern Alps, comparable only to the Baroque Sacri Monti of the southern Alps.