When Magnus arrived at his destination, he placed the statue of Mary on a tree trunk and proceeded to build a wooden structure around the trunk that became his cell. Hence, was derived the name Mary’s cell or in German Mariazell.

Around the year 1200, the Margrave Henry of Morovia and his wife had the same dream in which St. Wenceslaus counseled them to make a pilgrimage to Mariazell to be cured of the debilitating disease from which they both suffered. When they came to Mariazell, they were both miraculously cured. In thanksgiving to God and Our Lady of Mariazell, they had stone chapel built in Mariazell.

In 1377, King Ludwig of Hungary and his army encountered a vastly superior force of Bulgarian Muslims. The king decided to retreat without engaging the opposing army. That night, however, Our Lady appeared to the King in his dreams encouraging him. Ludwig then led his army into battle where they won a remarkable victory. In gratitude to Mary’s succor, King Ludwig enlarged the stone church at Mariazell into a magnificent Gothic church.

The basilica was enlarged in the 17th century and two baroque towers were erected on each side of the Gothic tower.

The shrine of Our Lady of Mariazell has been the site of pilgrimages and processions for centuries and countless miracles have occurred through her maternal intercession with God. Inside the basilica, the statue of Our Lady of Mariazell is enthroned on a silver altar under a baldachin supported by silver columns.

The statue’s figures of Our Lady and the Infant Jesus wear richly brocaded robes every day except for the feast day of Our Lady of Mariazell.

There are two interesting phenomena associated with the statue of Our Lady of Mariazell. The first is that the statue has never been exactly replicated. Although sculptors over the years have made numerous reproductions of the statue, no one has ever been able to sculpt an exact reproduction. Also, the faces of Jesus and Mary never gather any dirt or show sign of decay.