Heiligenkreuz, Lower Austria

The Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Heiligenkreuz is a Lourdes grotto in Heiligenkreuz, a municipality in the Vienna Woods in the district of Baden near Vienna, which was created in 2017 by the Heiligenkreuz Abbey as a religious monument in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like all similar grottoes of Our Lady of Lourdes around the world, it is reminiscent of the world-famous grotto of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in the French pilgrimage town of Lourdes.

Heiligenkreuz Abbey (German: Stift Heiligenkreuz; English: Abbey of the Holy Cross) is a Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna woods, c. 13 km north-west of Baden in Lower Austria. It is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world.

The Via Sacra (Latin for Holy Road) is a centuries old pilgrimage trail in Lower Austria. It starts in Vienna and passes through the Wienerwald to Mariazell. One version of the route starts in Vienna and passes by the Wildegg Castle along the way to Heiligenkreuz. Another version of the trail starts in Brunn am Gebirge goes from Mödling through Gaaden, Heiligenkreuz, Alland, and the pilgrimage destination Hafnerberg, first into the Triestingtal, and then over the Gerichtsberg into the Gölsental and Traisental. Along it there are many remarkable shrines. The pilgrims have been an economic factor in the area since early in its history. There are many inns on the trail, which live off the pilgrims.

The Mayerling incident is the series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicide pact of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his mistress, baroness Mary Vetsera. They were found dead on 30 January 1889 in an imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling. Rudolf, who was married to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, was the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, and was heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Rudolf's mistress was the daughter of Albin von Vetsera, a diplomat at the Austrian court. Albin had been created a Freiherr (Baron) in 1870. The bodies of the 30-year-old Rudolf and the 17-year-old Mary were discovered in the Imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, 26.6 kilometres (16.5 mi) southwest of the capital, on the morning of 30 January 1889. The death of the Crown Prince interrupted the security inherent in the direct line of Habsburg dynastic succession. As Rudolf had no son, the succession passed to Franz Joseph's brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig, and his eldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This destabilisation endangered the growing reconciliation between the Austrian and Hungarian factions of the empire. Succeeding developments led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav nationalist and ethnic Serb, at Sarajevo in June 1914, and the July Crisis that led to the start of the First World War.

Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Wienerwald (Vienna woods), 24 kilometres (15 mi) southwest of Vienna. From 1550, it was in the possession of the abbey of Heiligenkreuz.

Wienerwald (Central Bavarian: Weanawoid) is a Municipality in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is named after the forest Wienerwald.

Alland is a market town in the district of Baden in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.

Arnstein is a 12th-century castle ruin, located above Maria Raisenmarkt in Austria. In 1529 Arnstein was destroyed by Turkish troops in the Siege of Vienna.

Gaaden (Central Bavarian: Goodn) is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.

The Merkenstein ruins are the remains of a castle in Lower Austria near Bad Vöslau in the Großau cadastre (property register). In some sources, it is mentioned as early as the year 1141. The first definite mention is in the Codex Falkensteinensis in 1170. Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated two Lieder to the ruin.

Breitenfurt bei Wien (Central Bavarian: Braadnfuat bei Wean) is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.

Kaltenleutgeben (Central Bavarian: Koidnleitgebn) is a town with a population of 3302 in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.