Wallfahrtskirche Maria Thalheim, Parish church in Fraunberg, Germany

The Wallfahrtskirche Maria Thalheim is a five-bay wall-pillar church with a two-bay choir ending in a three-sided apse, its nave and choir covered by barrel vaults with lunettes. A choir flank tower to the south carries a clock and arched belfry openings beneath an onion dome with lantern, rebuilt after a 1726 fire. The exterior is largely unarticulated apart from round-arched windows.

The church is first documented in 1413, with its present structure built in the late 15th century. It underwent major interior transformations during the Baroque and Rococo periods that reshaped its appearance and decoration.

The pilgrimage began, according to legend, with a Marian image beneath an elderberry bush in the village centre; carried to a hill, it returned there each night, so the church was built on that spot. The bush still stands, a rare form that shows no visible flowers and only green berries; since 1884 an Immaculata figure has stood beside it.

The church is oriented to the east, with the entrance at the western end of the nave. A wrought-iron grille between the third and fourth bays separates the rear area with the double gallery from the six side chapels and the high altar. The south flank tower is topped by an onion dome with a lantern.

The venerated image was moved to the high altar on the Assumption in 1753, and some 40,000 pilgrims are said to have attended the ceremonies. The church's elderberry bush is a botanical oddity: a hidden-flowering variety with no visible blossoms and only green fruit. Since 1884 an Immaculata figure has stood where the bush grows.