Catholic Pilgrimage
Destinations

🥾 Camino de Santiago

love

🥾 St Francis' Way

🥾 Via Francigena

🥾 Augustine Camino

🥾 Birgittaleden (Birgitta Trail)

🥾 Böhmerweg (Bohemian Road to Mariazell)

For centuries, pilgrims from Bohemia and Moravia followed the *Böhmerweg*—the Bohemian Road—southward through the Waldviertel to reach Mariazell, Austria's national Marian shrine. This historic trade route, known in early documents as the "Behmer-Strass," connected the Czech lands with the alpine pilgrimage center that drew faithful from across the Habsburg Empire. The route passed through Maria Dreieichen on the Manhartsberg ridge, where a furrier named Matthias Weinberger placed a pietà at a three-stemmed oak in 1656—deliberately choosing a spot along this pilgrim thoroughfare. The shrine that grew there became a natural stopping point for Bohemian and Moravian pilgrims making the long journey to the *Magna Mater Austriae*. ## 📜 Historical Background Mariazell's connection to Bohemia and Moravia dates to the shrine's earliest expansion. According to tradition, Henry Margrave of Moravia and his wife were healed of severe illness through the intercession of Our Lady of Mariazell around 1200, and in gratitude they financed the construction of the first stone church. This Moravian connection established pilgrimage routes from the Czech lands that would flourish for eight centuries. By the sixteenth century, pilgrims from Bohemia, Moravia, Bavaria, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, and Slovenia were making regular journeys to Mariazell. The Bohemian Road through the Waldviertel offered northern pilgrims a route across the Danube and into the alpine foothills. Towns along the way—Horn, Maria Dreieichen, and others—developed infrastructure to serve these travelers: inns, chapels, and wayside shrines. The Counter-Reformation intensified pilgrimage traffic in the seventeenth century. The Habsburgs promoted Mariazell as a national shrine, and the route from Bohemia and Moravia brought thousands of pilgrims annually through Lower Austria. Maria Dreieichen's establishment in 1656 directly served this pilgrim traffic, providing a Marian devotional site along the traditional road. Emperor Joseph II's 1784 pilgrimage restrictions temporarily suppressed the tradition, but devotion revived in the nineteenth century. After 1945, the expulsion of German-speaking populations from Czechoslovakia transformed the route's meaning: former Sudeten communities now gather annually at Maria Dreieichen, maintaining a connection to the historic pilgrimage geography even as political borders have changed. ## 🥾 Route Character Unlike the Via Sacra from Vienna—Austria's oldest waymarked pilgrimage path—the Böhmerweg was never formally designated as a single pilgrimage route. Rather, it followed existing trade roads that medieval and early modern pilgrims used to travel from Bohemian and Moravian towns toward Mariazell. The general corridor led from the Czech border region through the Waldviertel's rolling granite landscape, passing through Horn and Maria Dreieichen before continuing south. Pilgrims would cross the Danube and eventually join routes leading into the Styrian Alps toward Mariazell. Today, no unified waymarked trail recreates the historic Böhmerweg as a pilgrimage path. However, sections of the old route can be traced through regional hiking networks, and Maria Dreieichen remains accessible as a pilgrimage destination along the historic corridor. ## ☩ Key Sites Along the Historic Route **Maria Dreieichen** — The baroque basilica established in 1656 specifically to serve pilgrims on the Bohemian Road. The twin towers are visible for miles across the Waldviertel. Pilgrims venerate the Sorrowful Mother and visit the healing spring at the Bründlkapelle. **Horn** — The nearest town to Maria Dreieichen, where the furrier Matthias Weinberger lived before his vision. The town served as a staging point for pilgrims. **Mariazell** — The ultimate destination, where the *Magna Mater Austriae* has drawn pilgrims since the twelfth century. The Gothic-Baroque basilica houses the miraculous lime-wood Madonna. ## 📚 Further Reading [Basilika Maria Dreieichen](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilika_Maria_Dreieichen) — German Wikipedia article documenting the shrine's foundation along the "Behmer-Strass." (*Wikipedia*) [The Significance of the Mariazell Pilgrimage Basilica](https://www.basilika-mariazell.at/site/en/info) — Official Mariazell history noting pilgrims from Bohemia among the earliest international visitors. (*Basilika Mariazell*) ## 🔗 Useful Links [Mariazell Pilgrimage Routes](https://www.mariazellerwege.at/) — Overview of modern pilgrimage paths to Mariazell, including routes from various Austrian regions. (German) [Pfarre Maria Dreieichen](https://www.stift-altenburg.at/pfarren/pfarre-maria-dreieichen/) — Parish website for Maria Dreieichen, a key waypoint on the historic Bohemian pilgrim road.