Photo: Guenter Fatka

Wallfahrtskirche Christkindl

Steyr, Upper Austria

The church was built at the beginning of the 18th century by Giovanni B. Carlone and Jakob Prandtauer and consecrated in 1725 by the Bishop of Passau, Josef Dominik Graf von Lamberg. At its center is the ten-centimeter wax infant Jesus in a small shrine.Registration for groups is absolutely necessary.Tip: Advent concerts in the Christkindl Pilgrimage Church with the Christkindl Music Association on December 1 / 8 / 15 and 22, 2026, each at 4 PM.The HistoryIn 1695, the seriously ill tower keeper and choirmaster Ferdinand Sertl placed a small wax infant Jesus in the hollow of a spruce tree. He visited this place several times a week to pray. When he was miraculously cured of his epilepsy, so many pilgrims came that the construction of a church became necessary. The name “Zum Christkindl unterm Himmel” (To the Christ Child under Heaven) originated. The current church was begun in 1702 by Giovanni Battista Carlone and completed from 1708 by Jakob Prandtauer.The miraculous figure, a standing infant Jesus only 10 cm tall, made of wax, holding a cross and crown of thorns in its hands, is now located on the high altar in a small shrine, above the tabernacle shaped like a globe.