Churches & monasteries. In Absam
Basilica of Our Lady – Absam
The Absam pilgrimage church was elevated to the status of a basilica on 24 June 2000, making it the first pilgrimage church in Tyrol to be granted this status without being affiliated to a monastery or abbey.
Absam is the most important Marian place of pilgrimage in Tyrol. On the Day of the Apparition, on the 17th of every month, the apparition of the Mother of God is commemorated. The major Marian feast days are 17 January (Day of the Apparition) and 24 June (on St John’s Day – the church’s second patron saint – Absam celebrates the transfer of the miraculous image to the parish church). In gratitude for their prayers being answered, those who had been helped thanked Our Lady of Grace with numerous votive tablets in the adjoining votive chapel.
St. Magdalena – Halltal – Absam
Around 1440, St. Magdalena was a small monastery inhabited by a few “forest brothers”. It owes its origins to Hans Frankfurter, the salt master of Hall, who wished to spend the final years of his life in prayer and solitude alongside a few devout men. Later, two nuns took over the hermitage and the community soon grew to 24 members. A wealthy widow from Hall – Magdalena Götzner – entered the convent. She had the convent building extended and a new church built, which was dedicated to St. Magdalena. Magdalena Götzner left the convent in 1499 and built a new convent next to the little St Martin’s Church in Gnadenwald.
In 1522, all the nuns left St Magdalena and moved to St Martin near Schwaz. From then on, only a chaplain remained there, providing pastoral care for the miners. In 1670, the abandoned convent was partially destroyed by an earthquake and completely destroyed by another quake in 1689. In 1690, the little church was restored.
After two centuries, the church had fallen into such disrepair that, in 1923, the beautiful Gothic winged altar was moved to the War Memorial Chapel (formerly the St. Magdalene Chapel) next to the parish church in Hall, and the church was secularised.
Exactly 500 years after its first consecration, in 1946, it was restored and reconsecrated.
St. Magdalena is now a popular destination for day trips.
