Basilica of the Nativity of Mary – Frauenkirchen (Boldogasszony)
The Franciscan basilica of Frauenkirchen (Boldogasszony), east of Lake Neusiedl, is one of the oldest Marian shrines of the western border region. Its present Baroque church was built by Palatine Paul Esterházy.
The place is mentioned as “Zenmaria” in 1335. According to tradition, when the Ottomans burned the chapel in 1529, the miraculous image painted on a wooden panel – a nursing Madonna – survived unharmed among the ruins, and this marked the beginning of the pilgrimages. The village passed to the Esterházy family in 1622, and the Franciscans settled here in 1659.
On the site of the church destroyed in 1683, construction of the new church began in 1695 with a foundation of Prince Paul Esterházy, and it was consecrated in 1702. Its master builder was Francesco Martinelli; the stucco work was made by Pietro Antonio Conti and the ceiling and wall paintings by Luca Antonio Colombo.
The early Gothic venerated statue of around 1240, carved from lime wood – “Mary in the Wilderness” – which stands on the high altar, was brought from Forchtenstein (Fraknó) Castle by Paul Esterházy himself; the original miraculous image can be seen on the first side altar. More than five hundred miraculous healings were recorded in the 17th–18th centuries. Pope John Paul II raised the church to the rank of minor basilica in 1990.
Pilgrimage feast: The church's feast day is the Nativity of Mary, 8 September.
Visiting: The basilica is open daily from 6 am to 9 pm (Kirchenplatz 2, Frauenkirchen). It is easy to reach from the Hungarian side of the Fertő/Neusiedlersee region, from Fertőd and Sopron.
Sources: Franciscan friary, Frauenkirchen · Hungarian Catholic Lexicon · Wikipedia (German)
Photo: C.Stadler/Bwag / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 at · Photo: Dguendel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Town:
Frauenkirchen (Boldogasszony)