Marija Bistrica - map location
Marija Bistrica a village on the northern slopes of Medvednica Mountain in Hrvatsko Zagorje, 6 km southeast of Zlatar Bistrica and 32 km northeast of Zagreb; elevation 191 m. Economy is based on farming, livestock breeding and tourism. This settlement named Bistrica was mentioned in 1202. Its present name Marija Bistrica was given in 18th century after the discovery of the amazing statue of God’s Mother, when Marija Bistrica became the most important holly place of Croats.
The Bishops conference established Marija Bistrica in 1971 as the national shrine and determinate the date 13th July to be the Holiday Mother of God of Bistrica. The most important day of Marija Bistrica is the visit of Pope on 3rd October 1998, when approx. one million people participated in the ceremony of blessing of Cardinal Alois Stepinac given by the Pope John Paulus II.
The parish curia (mid-18th c.) was a meeting point of the members of the Illyrian Movement during the period of the abbot I. Krizmanic. - Close to the village is a ground-floor classicist manor-house (1786), surrounded by a landscaped park. It is one of the most harmonious manor-houses in Zagorje. In the past the manor-house was owned by the families Prasinski, Sermage and Hellenbach.
Near the cemetery is a high Baroque column of Gabriel the Archangel. Religious tourism and tourists capacities are the present capacities of the place, but the perspective in agriculture and in restaurant management is also realisable.
