The shrine at Marija Bistrica has attracted over 500,000 people each year for over three centuries. This is the largest shrine dedicated to the Queen of Croats or Blessed Virgin Mary in Croatia. Pope John Paul II came here in 1998. There are fifty pilgrimages held here each year between White Sunday and Thanksgiving Sunday. The Stations of the Cross were first erected in 1943 and created in Carrera. The votive statue of the Mother of God of Bistrica dates from the fifteenth century.
