The Catholic Pilgrim's Guide to Annaberg, Austria

In 1217, workers quarrying limestone in the mountains south of Lilienfeld struck something unexpected. Not more stone, but a spring—clear water bubbling from the rock face. The quarrymen drank and felt renewed. Word spread. The sick came. When healings multiplied, the locals recognized what they had found: a sacred spring, a place where heaven touched earth. They built a chapel to Saint Anne, grandmother of Christ and patron of miners and mothers, and called the settlement Tannberg after the fir trees covering the slopes. In time, the name shifted to Annaberg—Anne's mountain. Eight centuries later, pilgrims still climb to this alpine village at 976 meters above sea level. The Gothic parish church preserves Austria's first pilgrimage dedicated to Saint Anne, including a fifteenth-century Anna Selbdritt—Anne, Mary, and the Christ Child—that art historians consider among the finest Gothic carvings in the German-speaking lands. Emperors walked these paths. Leopold I donated a relic of Saint Anne's skull in 1660. Maria Theresa came to pray. The spring still flows.

📜 History & Spiritual Significance

The 1217 spring discovery coincided with a Europe-wide surge in devotion to Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary's mother. Anne appears nowhere in the canonical Gospels; her story comes from the second-century Protoevangelium of James and other apocryphal sources. Medieval Christians embraced her as the matriarch of the Holy Family—the grandmother who raised the woman who would say fiat to Gabriel. Anne became patron of miners (who work underground, as Mary grew in Anne's womb), mothers, pregnant women, and grandparents. Annaberg's location along the route from Vienna to Mariazell brought passing pilgrims. The village grew. A Romanesque chapel gave way to a Gothic church in the fifteenth century, rebuilt and expanded across subsequent centuries. The Anna Selbdritt sculpture group, carved around 1440 and attributed to the workshop of Jakob Kaschauer, shows Anne seated with the Virgin Mary on her lap and the Christ Child on Mary's knee—three generations of sacred lineage in polychromed limewood. The Habsburgs noticed. Leopold I visited in the seventeenth century and donated a precious relic: a silver reliquary containing a portion of Saint Anne's skull, sent from Rome to strengthen devotion in his Austrian lands. Maria Theresa made the pilgrimage with her husband Franz I Stephan. The imperial connection elevated Annaberg from regional devotion to national significance. The original healing spring continues to flow beside the church. Pilgrims fill bottles and carry the water home, a practice continuous across eight centuries.

☩ Pilgrimage Sites in Annaberg

Pfarr- und Wallfahrtskirche Annaberg

Parish and Pilgrimage Church of Annaberg The church rises at the village center, its Gothic tower visible against the alpine backdrop. The nave preserves fifteenth-century proportions beneath a later baroque overlay. The high altar frames the celebrated Anna Selbdritt sculptural group, carved around 1440 and considered a masterpiece of late Gothic Austrian art. Saint Anne sits enthroned, her daughter Mary on her lap, the Christ Child on Mary's knee. The carving's emotional tenderness—Anne's hand on Mary's arm, Mary's gaze toward her son—transcends theological abstraction. In the south chapel, Leopold I's 1660 reliquary contains a portion of Saint Anne's skull, the precious gift that bound imperial Vienna to this mountain pilgrimage. Address Annaberg 74, 3222 Annaberg GPS 47.8758, 15.3569 Map Google Maps Web pfarre-annaberg.at

Heiliger Brunnen

Holy Spring The spring discovered in 1217 emerges beside the church, its waters channeled into a stone basin where pilgrims have drawn for eight centuries. The water is cold, clear, and—according to local tradition—healing. Modern pilgrims fill containers to carry home, continuing a practice older than the Gothic church above.

Leopoldkapelle

Leopold Chapel The side chapel housing Emperor Leopold I's 1660 relic donation preserves the imperial Habsburg connection to Annaberg. The silver reliquary displays the skull fragment attributed to Saint Anne, sent from Rome to Austria in the Counter-Reformation's age of relic translation. Pilgrims kneel here to venerate the grandmother of Christ.

🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations

Feast of Saint Anne — July 26

The patronal feast draws pilgrims from throughout Lower Austria and Styria. Solemn High Mass, celebrated with the reliquary exposed, overflows the church into the village square. The feast honors grandmothers and mothers alongside the saint who bore Mary in her womb. Many families time summer visits to coincide with the July celebration.

Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne — July 26

The universal Church celebrates Mary's parents together on this day. At Annaberg, the liturgy emphasizes Anne's role but also honors Joachim, reminding pilgrims that the Holy Family's story began with a faithful marriage.

Assumption of Mary — August 15

The Marian feast connects naturally to Anne's shrine: pilgrims honor Mary's bodily assumption into heaven while standing before the Anna Selbdritt that shows Mary as child and mother simultaneously. The feast provides a summer gathering point for regional parishes.

🛏️ Where to Stay

Hotel Annaberg ⭐⭐⭐ — Mountain hotel with panoramic views, restaurant serving regional specialties, and ski access in winter. Short walk to the pilgrimage church. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel Gasthof zur Post (guesthouse) — Traditional village inn beside the pilgrimage church with simple rooms and hearty Austrian cooking. The historic post house served travelers on the Vienna-Mariazell route. Reserve this hotel

🚗 Getting There

By Train: From Vienna Hauptbahnhof, take the S-Bahn or regional train to St. Pölten (30 minutes), change to the Mariazellerbahn narrow-gauge railway toward Mariazell, and alight at Laubenbachmühle (approximately 1 hour 30 minutes from St. Pölten). From Laubenbachmühle, taxi or local bus covers the 15 km uphill to Annaberg. Alternatively, continue on the Mariazellerbahn to Gösing and arrange transport from there. By Car: From Vienna, take the A1 Westautobahn to St. Pölten, then follow the B20 and B28 south through Lilienfeld toward Mariazell. Annaberg lies 10 km north of the main road (approximately 110 km from Vienna, 1 hour 45 minutes). Parking available in the village. On Foot: Pilgrims walking the Via Sacra from Vienna to Mariazell pass near Annaberg after approximately ten days. A detour from the main route adds one day but rewards with the oldest Anne pilgrimage in Austria.

📚 Further Reading

Books: Jason, Ronald. The Life of St. Anne - A comprehensive biography of the grandmother of Jesus, exploring her life, virtues, and enduring devotion. Online Resources: St. Anne — Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Saint Anne with devotional history and iconographic traditions. (New Advent) Pfarre Annaberg — Parish website with Mass times and contact information. (German)

🔗 Useful Links

Pfarre Annaberg — Parish website with Mass schedule and pilgrimage information. Mariazellerbahn — The scenic narrow-gauge railway connecting St. Pölten to Mariazell, passing through the mountains near Annaberg. Mostviertel Tourism — Regional tourism information for the surrounding alpine foothills.

🥾 Pilgrim Routes

Via Sacra — The historic pilgrimage road from Vienna to Mariazell passes through the Annaberg region. Medieval pilgrims would detour to honor Saint Anne before continuing south to the national Marian shrine. The route remains walkable today along marked trails.

🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations

Mariazell (25 km) — Austria's greatest Marian shrine, the traditional destination of the Via Sacra pilgrimage. The Gothic basilica houses the miraculous Magna Mater Austriae. Lilienfeld Abbey (20 km) — The Cistercian monastery founded in 1202, with Austria's largest medieval cloister and a church containing the tomb of Duke Leopold VI. Gaming Charterhouse (30 km) — The former Carthusian monastery, once the largest charterhouse in the German-speaking world, now a conference center but with the medieval church open to visitors. Ötscher (15 km) — The 1,893-meter peak dominates the regional skyline. Chapel ruins at the summit mark a medieval pilgrimage site; modern hikers and pilgrims still ascend.

🪶 Closing Reflection

"Pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven."

— Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2691