Birkenstein Pilgrimage Church

The chapel is famous for its Baroque interior, with 92 angels around the altar, and is considered the most important Marian pilgrimage site in Upper Bavaria.

There are places you go to when you need to slow down. Birkenstein is one of them. A small pilgrimage church on a rock in the Leitzach valley, between Fischbachau and the Breitenstein, and since 1673 a place where people have come to find comfort, to pray, to hope, or simply to be still.

I've been to Birkenstein many times, especially during a period when my wife was seriously ill. It's not a place you explain in words. You go there, you sit down, and you let it work on you. Anyone who needs that understands it right away. And if it's not your thing, the trip still isn't wasted, because the interior alone is extraordinary.

A chapel on a rock

Birkenstein sits on a rocky outcrop below the Breitenstein. It's a two-story structure: down below, a base level with the Stations of the Cross and a Holy Sepulchre chapel; up top, the chapel itself, with a steep gabled roof and an onion dome. A covered walkway wraps around it, reached by an open flight of stairs. Picturesque is the right word, even if it sounds worn out.

Its origins go back to a legend. In the 17th century, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to the parish priest of Fischbachau and two farmers, asking to be venerated at this spot. In 1673, a first wooden chapel was built on the rock. The stream of pilgrims grew quickly, and in 1710 the present building went up, modeled on the Holy House of Nazareth and following the example of the Loreto Chapel in central Italy.

The interior

Your first impression: too much. Your second: beautiful. The interior, dating from around 1760, is Rococo in its most intense form. The scenic high altar shows the miraculous image of Mary with the infant Jesus, surrounded by a ring of 92 angels. Above them, God the Father; over the chancel arch, the Annunciation scene. The side walls are packed with gilded carvings, votive tablets, and busts of saints.

As a Loreto Chapel, Birkenstein has to include certain features: brick walls, a kitchen cupboard and a stove belonging to Mary behind the high altar, and a deep blue barrel vault with a starry sky above it. It's all there, and once you know that, you see the room with different eyes.

Countless votive offerings and paintings document answered prayers going back to the 18th century. Fear of war, illness, personal hardship, the same themes back then as today.

The Loreto story

The story sounds like an adventure, but it's well documented historically. In the Middle Ages, crusaders are said to have brought the house where Mary is believed to have grown up from the Holy Land to Loreto in central Italy. There it became the largest pilgrimage site in Europe.

Because Loreto was impossibly far away for most of the faithful, people in the Baroque era began building replicas of the Holy House, first in Tyrol, then all across Bavaria. The Wittelsbach dynasty were deeply devoted to Mary; Elector Maximilian I even made praying the rosary compulsory in Bavaria. The Loreto Chapel at Birkenstein was built in 1710, right in the middle of that era.

A genuine Loreto Chapel has to show certain features: brick walls, a kitchen cupboard, a stove, and a deep blue barrel vault. Birkenstein has all of it. If you know that ahead of time, you spot it immediately, and you understand why this small room is so much more than just a pretty village chapel.

More than faith

For the faithful, Birkenstein is a must, one of the most important Marian pilgrimage sites in Upper Bavaria, with an unbroken stream of pilgrims for more than 350 years. But even if church isn't really your thing, you feel something here.

In a conversation with Andreas Estner, a journalist at Bayerischer Rundfunk and author of a book about Birkenstein, I learned that measurements have shown the chapel stands on a spot that's unusual in a physical sense too. Exactly what that means is up for debate. But it fits the picture: Birkenstein is a place to pause, to pray, to hope. Or simply to be still.

Podcast

Birkenstein, hidden stories, the war years, and a place full of meaning: in this episode of Talgeschichten, I talk with Andreas Estner, a journalist at Bayerischer Rundfunk, an author and musician from the Leitzach valley, about Birkenstein, its history, and the people connected to this place. About the Loreto Chapel, the eyewitnesses to the end of the war whom no one had ever interviewed before, and about what makes a place a special place. A conversation that reaches far beyond the chapel itself.

Book recommendation

If you want to dig deeper after your visit to Birkenstein, I'd recommend the book by Andreas Estner, the journalist I also spoke with on the podcast. It's the first major book about Birkenstein in 150 years, telling the story of the chapel, the convent, and the pilgrimage with more than 240 images and a DVD featuring a guided tour of the chapel by Sister Eresta Mayr, who lived at Birkenstein for 64 years.

Getting there from Bayrischzell

By bike or on foot via Geitau: this is the more direct route from Bayrischzell. It climbs gently to moderately uphill. Easy enough on a mountain bike, a bit longer on foot, but beautiful scenery either way.

Via Aurach and Fischbachau: the slightly longer route, but flatter. You can drive this one too. There is parking, though not a whole lot of it.

By car: take the B307 toward Fischbachau, then follow the signs to Birkenstein. On nice days, get there early, because the parking lots fill up fast.

Combine it with

Alpenpfade high trail, Leitzachtaler Bergblicke: from the pilgrimage church, a really lovely trail leads along with views down into the Leitzach valley. The Schwaigeralm makes a great endpoint, known as the filming location for the „Carpe Diem“ in the ZDF series Frühling.

Martinsmünster in Fischbachau: the Romanesque parish church in town is worth a short detour if you're in Fischbachau anyway.

Bayrischzell parish church: if you're into sacred architecture, you can pair your visit to Birkenstein with the parish church in Bayrischzell, two very different churches that together paint a picture of the region's religious landscape.

Ride your bike out via Geitau, take your time in the chapel, and then walk the high trail over to the Schwaigeralm. That's a half day that gives you more than most full-day outings. And if you just need some quiet, Birkenstein works fine without the hike too. Sit down, breathe, done.

On the map