architecture - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1957 - 1 Shilling

The brand image shows the Mariazell Basilica with its characteristic Gothic central tower and two baroque side towers. In the foreground you can see some of the stalls selling devotional items grouped around the church. According to an ancient tradition, monk Magnus, sent by the abbot Otko of St. Lambrecht in Styria, settled in about 1157 in Mariazell to practice "pastoral care for the shepherd people living there". He built a small chapel, which is to be regarded as the root of today's large Austrian pilgrimage site and the Basilica of Mariazell. In 1957, in which the 800th anniversary of this place of grace was celebrated, extensive renovation work on the basilica was completed, which served mainly to secure the building stock. The present-day three-towered, massive building, whose length is 85 meters and whose width is about 30 meters and whose dome space is about 40 meters high, goes back to the originating from Misox in Grisons builder Domenico Sciassia, who executed him in the years 1644-1673 Has. This building had at least two predecessors, a Romanesque, which was begun after a recent inscription on the main portal around the year 1200, and a Gothic, of which the present-day nave with the vestibule, the west portal and the central tower have been preserved despite the generous baroque reconstruction , This stamp was produced in engraving and bears at the bottom of the picture the designer and engraver name, another Mariazell stamp in the book, also with designer and engraver name, appeared as a permanent mark on October 25, 1957, in offset printing (only with designer name) on 19 January 1959.