Marianka

Marianka is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Malacky District in the Bratislava region, in the foothills of the Little Carpathians.

Settlement dating to late Bronze Age located above the slate quarry was discovered during research between 1986 - 1990.

The cornerstone of the church was laid by Louis I. the Great in 1377, in response to spreading word about rumoured miracles.

There was a custom that during this occasion they were giving to the Virgin Mary their wedding rings and also donating robes for the statue made out of their bridal clothes.

A new development of the pilgrimage place began in 1927 when Congregatio fratrum consolatorum de Gethsemani managed the site until 1950, when the communist regime abolished all catholic orders.

Although his newborn child was "a beast more similar to animal than human" and its affliction was considered as God's punishment, he still continued in his brutal ways.

Large queues of blind, crippled and sick beggars rushed to Marianka with their prayers to drink and wash themselves in the blessed stream.

They believed that the miraculous powers of the stream were directly from Virgin Mary, who is called "Healer of the sick" and "Comforter of the afflicted" in Marian litany.

The legend dating from the year 1030 speaks about its origin: a god-devoted pilgrim living in the forests carved it out of pear wood.