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1982, Austria. Large Silver 500 Schilling "Mariazell Shrine" Coin. PCGS MS-66!

Mint Year: 1982 Mint Place: Vienna Reference: KM-2958. Condition: Certified and graded by PCGS as MS-66! Denomination: 500 Schilling - 825 Years of the Mariazell Shrine Material: Silver (.640) Diameter: 38mm Weight:  24gm

There are three basic legends about the founding of Mariazell and its development. The legend of the town's founding says that in 1157, the St. Lambrecht Monk Magnus was sent to the area of the current town as a minister. When his way was blocked by a rock, he set down the Marian figurine he had brought with him, whereby the rock broke apart and left Magnus' way clear. On a nearby bank, he settled down, placed the figurine on a tree trunk, and built a cell out of wood, which served as both his chapel and his living quarters.

The second legend relates how Henry Margrave of Moravia and his wife, having been healed of severe gout through the help of Our Lady of Mariazell made a pilgrimage to that place around 1200. There they built the first stone church on the site of the wooden chapel.

The third legend recounts a victorious battle of the Hungarian King Ludwig I over a numerically superior Turkish army. Out of thanks he built the gothic church and endowed it with the "Schatzkammerbild" ("treasury image") that he saw laid upon his chest in a dream.

Pilgrims were already making their way to the Marian sanctuary in the 12th century. Larger numbers of pilgrims are documented beginning around 1330, when a secular court imposed a "Zellfahrt" ('Zell journey) as atonement for its criminals. In the following years increasing numbers of pilgrims came from neighboring lands. After the Counter-Reformation, the Habsburgs made Mariazell a national sanctuary. However, in 1783, Emperor Joseph II dissolved the monastery in Mariazell, and in 1787, he completely banned pilgrimages there. After the early withdrawal of the restrictions, today around a million pilgrims visit Mariazell each year. In May 2004, the Central European Catholic Day (mitteleuropäische Katholikentag) took place there.

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Mariazell Basilica, also known as Basilica Mariä Geburt (Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary), is a Marian basilica in Mariazell, Austria. It is the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria and one of the most visited shrines in Europe.[1] In the church, a miraculous wooden image of the Virgin Mary is honored. Pope Pius X raised the sanctuary to the status of minor basilica in 1907 and then crowned the image on 8 September 1908. It is the only church named as a national shrine of all German-speaking countries.

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