Via Mariae pilgrimage route

Mary’s Way or Via Mariae is a spiritual way for tourists. It is a also pilgrim`s way, built by the nations of Central Europe to the honor of Mary, but it also connects the shrines of Mary, without interfering with any historical, cultural, or religious differences. The aim is to build up a unified pilgrim`s way between the different religious traditions of Central Europe, and to create a network between these places. Mary’s Way builds a connection in the East-West direction between the Austrian Mariazell, Budapest, Máriapócs and Csíksomlyó, and in the North – South direction between Czestochowa, Esztergom, Budapest, and Medjugorje. The way draws a large cross upon the map of Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, and Bosnia) and creates a traditional pilgrimage network, similar to El Camino.
The initiative is implemented through the cooperation of the local stakeholders. This initiative contributes to the competitiveness of SMEs from the concerned area, because the route passes through areas where previously was not developed the tourism activity but thanks to the networking activity this process started.