Shrine · Other

Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting

Altötting, Germany

"Altötting in Bavaria is the most important Marian pilgrimage site in the German-speaking world, known as th..."

Highlights

1The most important Marian shrine in Germany — known as the Lourdes of Germany and the Heart of Bavaria The Chapel of Grace dates from the 8th century — one of the oldest Christian buildings in Bavaria
2Pope Benedict XVI's heart was buried in the Chapel of Grace in 2023, following his dying wish
3Over 4,000 ex-voto paintings on the ambulatory walls — one of the largest collections in Europe
4The miraculous healing of a drowned child in 1489 launched five centuries of pilgrimage

Getting There

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Address

Kapellplatz 4, 84503 Altötting, Bavaria, Germany

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Directions

Altötting is 80 km east of Munich and 75 km north of Salzburg. Direct trains from Munich (1.5h). By car: A94 motorway from Munich. The pilgrimage town centres entirely on the Kapellplatz.

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Timings

Current time — Berlin Time (CET)

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When	Hours	Note
Chapel of Grace	6:30 AM - 9:00 PM
Collegiate Church	8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Schatzkammer	9:00 AM - 5:30 PM

; ticket required Entry to the Chapel of Grace is free. The treasure chamber requires a ticket. The major pilgrimage seasons are spring through autumn; the feast of Our Lady of Altötting (September) draws the largest crowds.

Masses & Events

Daily Masses

Multiple from 7:00 AM in both churches

Active pilgrimage schedule Feast of Our Lady of Altötting: First Saturday of June; September Marian feasts — Principal pilgrimage days

Rosary Procession

Saturday evenings in summer

Traditional Marian procession around the Kapellplatz

Must See

The Black Madonna of Altötting

Chapel of Grace The small enthroned Black Madonna, just 65 cm tall, sits in a silver niche above the altar. The darkness from centuries of candle smoke gives her an ancient, mysterious presence.

Pilgrims kneel in the small chapel

ancient, low-ceilinged, intense with incense

in one of the most intimate Marian sanctuaries in Europe.

The Ex-Voto Paintings

Ambulatory around the Chapel of Grace The covered walkway surrounding the Chapel of Grace is lined with over 4,000 ex-voto paintings donated by pilgrims since the 15th century. Each painting shows a moment of danger or illness, the intervention of Our Lady, and the pilgrim's gratitude. Together they constitute an unbroken visual diary of Bavarian Catholic life across five centuries.

The Heart of Pope Benedict XVI

Chapel of Grace, urns Pope Benedict XVI, who died in December 2022, requested that his heart be buried in the Chapel of Grace at Altötting

the Bavarian shrine of the Mother he had prayed before since childhood. The heart was interred in a silver reliquary in the Gnadenkapelle in 2023. Pilgrims can visit this resting place of a part of the Pope born nearby.

The Schatzkammer

Adjacent to the Chapel of Grace The treasure chamber contains five centuries of ex-voto gifts: golden hearts, royal offerings, Habsburg military decorations, paintings, and silver models. The golden heart donated by the Wittelsbach family in 1516 is the oldest piece. The collection communicates the intimacy between Bavarian Catholic culture and this small chapel.

The Kapellplatz

The central square [OUTDOOR] The Kapellplatz

a large, architecturally coherent Baroque square — surrounds the Chapel of Grace and the collegiate church. Pilgrimage stalls, candle sellers, and crowds of pilgrims occupy it during major feasts. The square is the social heart of Altötting and one of the finest pilgrimage piazzas in Germany.

Intentions

Carry these intentions into the Basilica with you — pause at each sacred spot and lift them to God.

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For Bavaria and for Germany — for the faith that built this shrine and sustained it through war

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For Pope Benedict XVI, whose heart rests here — for his legacy of theology and contemplation

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For those in danger — for the miraculous preservations recorded in the ex-votos on these walls

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For those who have made long pilgrimages to Altötting on foot

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For the healing of children — the first miracle here was a child restored to life

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For families praying together at this shrine across generations

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For the Christian tradition in Bavaria in a rapidly secularising society

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For all who carry a golden heart toward this chapel

Reflection

A small dark wooden Madonna in a small dark chapel on a Bavarian market square has drawn pilgrims for five centuries. Popes, emperors, the Habsburgs, and ordinary Bavarian farm families have knelt before her in exactly the same way. One of those who knelt before her was a Bavarian professor and cardinal named Joseph Ratzinger, who came here from childhood and whose heart now rests in the chapel. There is no better argument for the power of small things than Altötting.

Suggested Scripture — 1 Samuel 16:7

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Read in full on Bible Gateway →

A Pilgrim's Prayer

Heart of Bavaria, Heart of Bavaria — Our Lady of Altötting, you have received the hearts of kings and the hearts of farmers in the same chapel for five hundred years. Receive mine. Whatever I have brought here in my chest — my love, my fear, my uncertainty, my faith however small — let it rest before you. And let me go from this chapel a little more at peace. Amen.

Altötting in Bavaria is the most important Marian pilgrimage site in the German-speaking world, known as the heart of Bavaria and the Lourdes of Germany. A small hexagonal 8th-century chapel — the Chapel of Grace — at its centre contains the Black Madonna of Altötting, a small wooden seated figure dating from around 1330. The chapel has received pilgrims for over five centuries, and the walls surrounding it are covered with over 4,000 ex-voto paintings donated by grateful pilgrims — one of the largest and most historically rich collections of votive art in Europe.

The Black Madonna

The Black Madonna became nationally significant after a miraculous cure in 1489 when Duke Albert of Bavaria brought his drowned child to the chapel and the child was restored to life. The devotion spread rapidly. Conrad von Preysing, the resistance bishop of the Nazi era, was devoted to Altötting. Pope John Paul II visited in 1980, and again in 2006 when he was Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict XVI was born in Marktl am Inn, 15 km from Altötting, and his heart was buried in the Chapel of Grace in 2023.

The Treasure Chamber

The Schatzkammer (treasure chamber) of Altötting contains one of the most extraordinary collections of ex-voto gifts in Europe — golden hearts from the Houses of Habsburg and Wittelsbach, paintings, silver models and military decorations — spanning five centuries of Bavarian Catholic history.