Svatá Hora

A covered staircase of 365 steps climbs from the town of Příbram up to the basilica's walled courtyard, its arcaded ambulatories lined with paintings of miracles credited to the statue inside. Four domed chapels close off the corners of that courtyard, framing the church that stands on a raised stone terrace at its center. The cult here began in the 14th century around a small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and Child, tradition holding it was carved by Bishop Arnošt of Pardubice. Word of a blind man's recovery of sight in 1632 spread the site's fame fast, drawing pilgrims that eventually included Emperor Ferdinand II, and the basilica's chronicles went on to record more than 4,500 miracles, each logged with its own number and year. The Jesuits took charge of the hill in 1647 and rebuilt the small chapel into the Baroque complex standing today, designed by Carlo Lurago and Benjamin Schleyer between 1658 and 1675. Pope Pius X later raised the church to the rank of basilica minor, a title reserved for the world's most significant churches.