For over 1250 years, this town has been the spiritual center of Bavaria and, for over 500 years, the most significant pilgrimage destination in Germany for those wishing to venerate the Virgin Mary.
The ultimate destination of the more than 1 million annual pilgrims and visitors is the so-called “Black Madonna” in the Chapel of Mercy. This small place of worship lies in the middle of a broad square flanked by Baroque buildings. Its interior houses the silver urns which contain the hearts of Bavaria’s kings and electors, as it does valuable votive offerings.
Highlights here include the Late Gothic abbey church and cloister, the New Treasury with a pilgrimage museum and the famous “Golden Horse”, as well as the monumental 1200 m² “Jerusalem Panorama”, a painting that dates from 1903.
Altötting is, incidentally, also the starting and finishing point of the “Benedict Path”, which covers a distance of over 248 km as it leads in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI through the Upper Bavarian holiday regions of the Inn-Salzach, Chiemgau and Chiemsee-Alpenland (www.benediktweg.info). Furthermore, Altötting is the starting point of the “Saint Rupert’s Pilgrimage Way” and is also on the “Path of Saint Wolfgang”.
Further information may be found at www.altoetting.de.
