Maria Taferl is an Austrian market municipality of 872 people in the District of Melk and the most important pilgrimage site in all of Lower Austria.

Maria Taferl and the surrounding countryside belonged to the territory of the Ostarrichi during the time of the Bambergs in the Middle Ages.

For a long time, it was part of the land of the Lords of Weißenberg, whose seat lay in the nearby town of Münichreith.

The legends say that the statue of the Pietà at the shrine was an offering from Alexander Schinagel, a forester, who had a miraculous recovery from a serious illness.

It replaced a crucifix there, which had also been the site of a miracle, for when local shepherd Thomas Pachmann tried to chop down the oak on which it was placed, he gravely injured both his legs.

The Maria Taferl church is built in the baroque style with ample amounts of gold leaf and a frescoed ceiling.

All this speaks to Maria Taferl as an important manifestation of the Catholic faith on the main traveling route of the Danube.

Another reason for Maria Taferl's importance as a pilgrimage destination was the stone cross, a gift from the citizens of Freistadt for pilgrims who died on the journey.

The murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his family lived in the nearby Artstetten Castle and is known to have regularly attended mass at Maria Taferl.

Other landmarks in the town are the Elementary School Museum, as well as the mechanical nativity, which tells the story of Maria Taferl's origins.