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Pilgrimage church

Church building, site of Roman Catholic pilgrimage

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 16, 2025
Entity authorityQ10631691
Source-derived summary

A pilgrimage church (German: Wallfahrtskirche) is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims.

Pilgrimage churches are often located by the graves of saints, or hold portraits to which miraculous properties are ascribed or saintly relics that are safeguarded by the church for their veneration. Such relics may include the bones, books or pieces of clothing of the saints, occasionally also fragments of the cross of Jesus, pieces of the crown of thorns, the nails with which he was fixed to the cross and other similar objects. Pilgrimage churches were also built at places where miracles took place.

List of Roman Catholic pilgrimage churches

Churches are listed in alphabetical order of the sites in or near where they are located.

Austria

Ardning, Styria: Pilgrimage Church of Frauenberg (Wallfahrtskirche Frauenberg an der Enns)

Bad Leonfelden, Upper Austria: Pilgrimage Church of Maria Schutz am Bründl (Katholische Kirche Maria Schutz)

Berg bei Rohrbach, Upper Austria: Pilgrimage Church of Maria Trost (Wallfahrtskirche Maria Trost)

Bergheim near Salzburg: Maria Plain

Christkindl, Upper Austria: Pilgrimage Church of Christkindl (Wallfahrtskirche Christkindl)

Fernitz, Styria: Pilgrimage Church of Maria Trost (Wallfahrtskirche Maria Trost Fernitz)

Gaflenz, Upper Austria: St. Sebald am Heiligenstein

Graz, Styria: Mariagrüner Kirche, Graz

Graz, Styria: Mariatrost Basilica

Gurk, Carinthia: Gurk Cathedral (grave of Saint Hemma of Gurk)

Gutenstein, Lower Austria: Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Wallfahrtskirche Hilfreiche Jungfrau Maria auf dem Mariahilfberg)

Heiligengrab, Bleiburg, Carinthia

Horn, Lower Austria: Maria Dreieichen

Kaltenberg, Upper Austria

Kaltenbrunn, Tyrol

Linz, Upper Austria: Pöstlingberg

Maria Dornach (Mitteldorf), Großkirchheim, Carinthia

Maria Gail, Villach

Maria Hilf ob Guttaring, Carinthia

Maria Laach am Jauerling, Lower Austria

Maria Loreto, Saint Andrew i. L., Carinthia

Maria Rain, Carinthia

St Mary's Church, Maria Saal, Carinthia

Maria Schmolln, Upper Austria

Pilgrimage Church of Maria Schnee (Maria Luggau), Lesachtal, Carinthia

Maria Schnee (at about ten places in Austria and several places in Germany and neighbouring countries)

Mariastein, Tyrol

Maria Taferl (most important pilgrimage site in Lower Austria)

Maria Waitschach, Guttaring, Carinthia

Mariazell, Styria – which in 2003–2005 was the venue for the Central European Catholics Day

Molln, Upper Austria: Pilgrimage Church of Frauenstein

Pottenstein: Pilgrimage Church of Maria Trost im Elend

Poysdorf, Lower Austria: Maria Bründl

Saalfelden, Salzburg: Pilgrimage Church of Maria Kirchenthal

Sankt Jakob im Rosental, Carinthia: Pilgrimage Church of Maria Elend

St. Wolfgang, Upper Austria

Pilgrimage Church of St.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Pilgrimage church” as church building, site of Roman Catholic pilgrimage. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pilgrimage, church and Church.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2003, 2005—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Pilgrimage, church and Church providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Pilgrimage church”, the useful work is to connect “church building, site of Roman Catholic pilgrimage” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q10631691. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2003 and 2005.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Pilgrimage church”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Pilgrimage church primary sources, Pilgrimage church archive and Pilgrimage research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pilgrimage church”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Pilgrimage church” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.