Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes
Slovenians also have our own Lourdes. With a mighty three-aisled basilica in a place with an extremely rich history. It was created at the place where the river Brestanica flows into the Sava and above which the Rajhenburg castle dominates, in which the Trappists had a monastery from 1881 to 1947. Originally, until 1953, Brestanica was called Rajhenburg, which in German means rich place. From any direction you drive into the place, your eyes are quickly drawn to the mighty church. The foundation stone was blessed on July 16, 1908. At that time, a parchment was embedded in the foundation stone, on which it was written: "Rise boldly from the blessed foundation of the house of Mary and bring the grace of Lourdes to the Slovenes!" At the beginning of the 20th century, the parish of Reichenburg missed a more spacious parish church . When Jožef Cerjak, until then a chaplain in the Maribor cathedral, came to Rajhenburg as a pastor, preparations for construction began. He founded the church building society of Maria Lurška, whose members from all over Slovenia pledged donations for construction. The biggest gift was the land donated by local woman Ana Korban. The church has the honorary title "Slovenian Lourdes" because Slovenians from all parts of our homeland participated in its construction.
Construction of the church began in 1908 on the fiftieth anniversary of Mary's apparitions in Lourdes. Six years later, it was consecrated by the Bishop of Maribor, Dr. Mihael Napotnik. As an interesting fact - on the very day, July 2, 1914, when the new church was being consecrated, a train passed through Rajhenburg with the body of the Imperial Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife Zofia, who were the victims of the assassination in Sarajevo.