The Mariatrost Basilica stands on Purberg hill, 1,539 feet (469 m) above sea level, northeast of Graz. Andreas Stengg and his son Johann Georg Stengg began the Baroque church, built from 1714 to 1724. Two front towers, each 200 feet (61 m) tall, and a dome rise above it. Two projecting wings of a former monastery enclose it.
The Pauline Fathers occupied the monastery from 1708 to 1786, and the Franciscans from 1842 to 1996. The pulpit by Veit Königer, from 1730 and 1731, is described as the masterpiece of the furnishings. Lukas von Schram and Johann Baptist Scheidt painted the ceiling frescoes.
The main altar's Madonna statue was originally Gothic, from about 1465, and was altered to Baroque in 1695. The church became a minor basilica on October 28, 1999, and is called Styria's second most important Marian shrine. Pilgrims climb the Angelus stair of 200 or more steps.
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