Mariazell is a beautiful sanctuary located in the Alps. It is the national sanctuary to the Virgin Mary for Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The beginnings of the church in Mariazell date back to the year 1200, when the church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary was started to be constructed. Legend says that in 1157, a Benedictine named Magnus came to Mariazell to build a new monastery. He took only a small wooden figurine of the Virgin Mary with the Child. Attacked by robbers, he ran through the mountain paths and finally ending up in front of a massive boulder, blocking his path. He prayed vigorously to the Virgin Mary and the rock eventually broke, granting him the way to escape. As a thanksgiving for saving his life Magnus ordered to build a temple, where he placed the miraculous figurine in a special cell. The name Mariazell (the cell of Mary) comes from these times. The former gothic and baroque basilica comes from the 14th century

Pilgrimages to Mariazell began as early as in 1330. Soon the place became the destination of pilgrimages of ordinary people and kings as well. King Luis I after defeating the Turks in 1365 has visited the place and funded a beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus in a very expensive frame ornamented with coats of arms of the lands under his rule. In 1983, pope John Paul II has visited the sanctuary in Mariazell.

On the 10th anniversary of the end of communist occupation of Austria, in one of the chapels, a candle for each country damaged by communism was put. Only when all the countries have freed themselves from the Soviet Union were the candles lit. In May 1990 after 35 years of vigorous prayers, when the last of the communist countries was again free, the "silent candles" were lit.

In 2007, Mariazell was visited by pope Benedict XVI, due to the 850th anniversary of the sanctuary.