Pilgrimage Church of the Nativity of Mary in Oppenberg

The northern wall frescoes (the oldest Romanesque frescoes in Styria) reveal a kind of Tuskulum of this illustrious family; they show, alongside a portrait of the church's founder, the only preserved depiction of the elevation of Styria to a duchy and, with a procession of kings, pay homage to the celebrated theft of the relics of the Three Wise Men by Margrave Otakar and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in Milan.

Also from the 12th century is the bronze bell with Romanesque majuscules; it is the oldest church bell still in service in Austria. Around the year 1400, the church was reconsecrated and positioned under the patronage of the Nativity of Mary as the first pilgrimage church of the central Enns Valley. The foot pilgrimages from Irdning and Donnersbach, first conducted in 1403, still take place today!

In the 15th century, under the Habsburgs, the Oppenberg Church underwent Gothicization. Frederick III commissioned the vaulting of the Romanesque nave, resulting in the loss of large parts of the northern wall frescoes. This prompted his son, Maximilian I, to commission the Munich master builder and sculptor Erasmus Grasser in 1503 to construct an elevated choir and establish a wing altar. The altar was intended to restore the lost procession of kings to the church. To provide food and lodging for Grasser and the workers of his Munich workshop in Oppenberg, Maximilian had a house built near the church, which is today known as vulgo Ulb. The original wing altar has been preserved, featuring the altar shrine with the procession of kings and an Eternal Adoration, as one of the principal works of Erasmus Grasser.