Ten freely accessible themed gardens are located around the Pöllauberg pilgrimage church. There are also two churches with distinct art-historical features and hikes that can be selected using specific details. When planning a visit to Pöllauberg, you can combine the cultural highlights with the gardens or make the hiking trails your main focus. The most useful details for choosing a hike are the distance, ascent, starting point and trail markings.
High Gothic and Baroque Art
The Pöllauberg parish and pilgrimage church is located at Oberneuberg 1 and is one of the major works of Styrian High Gothic architecture. Just above it stands St. Anne’s Church, at the highest point of the hill. It is a small Baroque building dating from around 1730. Its high altar, from 1644, features the image “St. Anne with the Virgin and Child” and is the region’s oldest surviving Early Baroque altar. Comparing the two churches offers different perspectives on their architecture and furnishings: the pilgrimage church’s High Gothic classification, St. Anne’s Baroque design and its Early Baroque altar. This allows you to explore the buildings’ history and the artwork as separate but geographically connected topics.
Gardens and Views
There are ten different, freely accessible themed gardens around the pilgrimage church. They provide a focus in their own right alongside the church building and a specific point of reference if you would like to include gardens in your visit. The “Room with a View” is right next to the pilgrimage church; from there, you can look out over the cultural landscape of Pöllauer Tal Nature Park. Another viewing platform was built northwest of the pilgrimage church in 2009. The two viewpoints also differ in location: the room is next to the church, while the platform is to the northwest.
Plan Your Hikes
The Hirschbirnweg towards Pöllauberg is a moderately difficult hike covering 12.6 kilometres with 520 metres of ascent. It leads from Pöllau Castle Park to the pilgrimage site of Pöllauberg. To assess the hike, it is worth considering the distance, elevation gain and difficulty level together. This makes it possible to assess the route using specific figures when planning, rather than choosing based only on its name.
The Masenberg Loop via Lüßwaldsattel starts at the Naturparkarena in Pöllauberg; the red-white-red trail marker no. 942 leads to Masenberg. The two hikes can be distinguished by their starting and end points: the Hirschbirnweg leads from Pöllau Castle Park to the pilgrimage site of Pöllauberg, while the Masenberg Loop starts in Pöllauberg and leads to Masenberg. When choosing a hike, you can compare these routes with the specific distance details for the Hirschbirnweg.
Getting There
The nearest SAM stop to the Pöllauberg pilgrimage church is HF 5809, the Hauptplatz Pöllauberg bus stop. As transport services can change, check the latest connections before travelling.
Discover more destinations: Karnerviertel, Flattendorf, Grafendorf bei Hartberg, Ebersdorf bei Hartberg, Loipersdorf bei Fürstenfeld, Penzendorf, Siebenbrunn, Maierhofbergen.
Return to the regional travel overview: Hartberg-Fürstenfeld.
