The Baroque Mariatrost Basilica is one of the most famous pilgrimage sites of Styria in Austria. The pilgrimage church stands prominently on top of the Purberg hill in the northeast of Graz. It can be reached using the 200 or more steps of the Angelus stair. The basilica is classified as a Baroque building. Two front towers and a dome, visible from a great distance, are the characteristic attributes of the church, which is enclosed by two projecting wings of a former monastery once occupied by the Pauline Fathers (1708–86) and later by the Franciscans (1842–1996).
The building was begun in 1714 by Andreas Stengg and his son Johann Georg Stengg and finished in 1724. The pulpit by Veit Königer (1730/1731) is the masterpiece of the furnishings. The frescoes on the ceiling by Lukas von Schram and Johann Baptist Scheidt are of particular importance.
The main altar includes a statue of the Madonna originally created in the Gothic period around 1465, but altered to the Baroque style in 1695 by Bernhard Echter.
References:The Roman Theatre of Mérida is a construction promoted by the consul Vipsanius Agrippa in the Roman city of Emerita Augusta, capital of Lusitania (current Mérida). It was constructed in the years 16 to 15 BCE. One of the most famous and visited landmarks in Spain, the Roman Theatre of Mérida is regarded as a Spanish cultural icon and was chosen as one of the 12 Treasures of Spain.
The theatre has undergone several renovations, notably at the end of the 1st century or early 2nd century CE (possibly during the reign of Emperor Trajan), when the current facade of the scaenae frons was erected, and another in the time of Constantine I (between 330 and 340), which introduced new decorative-architectural elements and a walkway around the monument. Following the theatre"s abandonment in Late Antiquity, it was slowly covered with earth, with only the upper tiers of seats (summa cavea) remaining visible.