For the Austrians, she was the “Magna Mater Austriae” (Great Mother of Austria); for the Catholic Slavs, she was the “Mater Gentium Slavorum” (Mother of the Slavic peoples); for the Hungarians, she was the “Magna Domina Hungarorum” (Grand Lady of the Hungarians): The carved wooden image of the Virgin Mary in the basilica of Mariazell still today attracts around 1,000,000 believers who make the pilgrimage to Mariazell every year. Mariazell – a pilgrimage shrine with a long history: 1157 is celebrated as the year of its foundation. Since then, the original church has been transformed into an impressive basilica in a conversion that took until the late 18th century. Mariazell became the national shrine of the Danube Monarchy, and almost all Habsburgs made a pilgrimage here after their coronation. Mariazell was designated an “imperial shrine” under Emperor Leopold I, and Empress Maria Theresa stopped there on her honeymoon. Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Sisi also took part in the 750th anniversary celebrations in Mariazell in 1857. The TV documentary “The Habsburgs in Mariazell” investigates the relationship between the House of Habsburgs and Mariazell – along with the phenomenon of pilgrimages and their significance.