Text borrowed from the book ‘100 years of music in Marija Bistrica’ by Srečko Klaužer

“When the first church in Bistrica was built, or when the parish was established is not known. The first written mention of the parish is in 1334 AD where it is listed in the parishes of the Zagreb bishopric. We can assume that the parish existed earlier. From the Gift of King Andrija II, of 1209, in which governer Vratislav and brothers receive a return of their ancestral lands lost in civil wars, there is mention of the King’s estate ‘Bistricza’ but not of the church.
In the late medieval, the church was dedicated to St. Peter, and later Sts. Peter and Paul. The church’s title was changed in the XVIII century when a miraculous statue of the Holy Virgin Mary was discovered, and the church was dedicated to Her.
The miraculous statue of Mother Mary was found in 1684, and until then had been hidden in the wall of the parish church. For this statue, a special altar was created by the evangelists.
The lower portion of the statue is nobly carved, obviously according to some old model from the so-called gothic artistic period. The Bistrica statue looks very similar to the statue of Madonna at the south entrance of St. Mark’s Church in Zagreb. The waist of both statues is slightly bent towards the left, and the upper and lower garments of Mother Mary is perfectly styled on both statues the same way. The edges nobly cover the legs. The shape of the dress and shoes suggest nobility of that time. Both statues follow the composition of Madonnas with baby Jesus, as was the church tradition in the middle ages. It is particularly interesting how the Bistrica Mother Mary stands upon the moon’s head, as on a pedastal – a symbol of immaculate conception, belief in which at that time was more and more conscious and enlightened.
The upper portion of the statue is a unique work. This is apparent by the position of the right hand of the Mother of God. It is quite unnatural, especially from the viewpoint of the right hand. It is obvious that the statue is the work of someone who had a gift for sculpting, but did not have a higher understanding or feeling for religious artwork. Mother Mary has the typical form and lines of our race and the peasants of Zagorje. The face is round with a genuine smile. The hair is carefully combed and braided in an old-fashioned manner covering the temples and ears, as is the custom even today in places. The soulful expression of the baby Jesus is in no way childish. This is often the case in pictures of Madonna and her child when artists show the spiritual and heavenly meaning of the divine child with the conscience of an adult.
All in all, the miraculous statue is, because of its age and because of its popular sculptural markings, and especially because of the awe Christians render, a priceless artefact of religious value. Its creation cannot be later than 1500 AD.”
The discovery of the wooden statue was the reason that people started pilgrimages in large numbers to Marija Bistrica, and the reason a new and more beautiful church was built to replace the humble chapel and Bistrica got a new name – Marija Bistrica.
The Croatian parliament in session on 20 October 1710 and 28 May 1711 determined that a new altar devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary should be raised in the church in Marija Bistrica.
This altar, a gift of the Croatian people and proof of their love and devotion to the Madonna was a great work of art. It stood in the Bistrica church for 75 years. In 1789, the parish priest Josip Šandor ordered a new main altar which contained, between two columns in an alcove, the miraculous statue of Mother Mary, surrounded by clouds ribbons. In the great fire of 1880, this altar was undamaged while everything else was destroyed.
The Zagreb Bishop Branjug dedicated the church in 1731 on Sunday 15 July after St. Margaret’s name day, and on this date the first miracle related to the statue of Mary of the Snow occurred – so that from then on this was a church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, the church was too small for the many pilgrims who arrived. Construction was overseen by the priest Juraj Žerjavić. Žerjavić sought the advice of the Vienese contractor Frederic Schmidt, who had reconstructed the Vienese church of St. Stephen and who had constructed the đakovo cathedral. Schmidt sent his architect Herman Bolle, and his offer was accepted. First, he demolished everything except the pastoral residence, whose ground floor was a pub and the upper floor was an apartment for visiting clergy. After that, he began the construction of a single-story building to the right of the main entrance to the sinter, which was to serve as residential quarters for clergy. Between these two buildings a new portal was constructed. The façade was covered in local stone and adorned with statues of Mary, and Sts. Peter and Paul.
In August of 1879, the arcade, shrine and entrance to the church were constructed. Above the arcade there are 9 rooms for clergy-pilgrims. The arcade is constructed from local stone in a Germanic-renaissance style, while the columns and stone arches are constructed from stone found in Petrova Gora near Lobor.
In 1880, the arcade was covered. Another shrine was added, alongside of which the sacristy was built; a similar room was added to the north side and above these two rooms were two large oratories. To the west the church was widened so that the old face was moved to the west in line with the west face of the tower.
In front of the face, an entrance of local stone was built in renaissance style. Thus the church was lengthened by 11 meters, so that its total length is today 38,75m. After that, the north and south windows were completed to mathch the windows of the shrine.
When workers removed the church roof in 1880, the Đakovo bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer visited and suggested: “Where so many thousands have been invested, add a few hundred and raise the ceiling!” The Bishop’s suggestion was accepted and the outer walls of the church were raised by 4 metres. To maintain the proper perspective, the tower was raised by 10 metres, but unfortunately the baroque cap was removed and replaced with a pseudogothic roof, which was in striking contrast to the church and the surrounding buildings. Two chapels were constructed, St Joseph and St. Katherine. The Committee for the preservation of Cultural Sacral buildings was not satisfied with the renovation of the Bistrica church.
The church interior was destroyed in the fire of August 15 and 16 1880. Three altars were completely destroyed, the rest were damaged by the fire, the windows shattered, the pulpit disappeared and the keys on the organ melted. Only the altar with the miraculous statue of Mary was undamaged which parishioners took to be a miracle of God.
A renovation of the interior was started, with altars in the farthes alcoves. It is not known what happened to the old large altar, which was undamaged in the fire. The new altar was given a stone face and reticule. The miraculous statue of Mary was placed in the central alcove. At the same time, an oak choir was raised which rests on two marble columns and a lintel. In 1883, the priest Žerjavić commissioned the painting of two large windows in the shrine and on the south side of the alcove three windows. The actual windows were donated by various families. The painter Ferdo Quiquirez, from Zagreb, painted a large Jesus with his disciples in the Temple, and 22 paintings in the arcades which show events logged in the Bistrica book of Miracles. On June 3 1883, the Cardinal and archbishop of Zagreb Josip Mihalović consecrated the large altar in honour of Mary.
The church organ is first mentioned in 1736. Between 1759 and 1762 a new organ was obtained and in 1882 Žerjavić purchased another new organ.
At the request of the Zagreb achibishop Antun Bauer, Saint Father Pius XI bestowed on the shrine and parish church in Marija Bistrica the title and rights of a minor basilica (basilica minor). Rome's prelates bestow such title of minor basilica only on major cathedrals, parish churches and shrines.
The Bistrica church vault was established at the time of the discovery of the statue of H.V. Mary, when pilgimmages began. Canon visits in 1685 noted that around Mary’s statue were many gifts. Already at that time, the statues of Jesus and Mary had silver crowns with diamonds and rubies, and were adorned with pearl necklaces. This was until 1935, when in honour of the 250th anniversary of the crowning of Mary’s statue both statues were crowned with crowns in the old-Croatian style by Vlatko Mesić. Many parishioners donated for these crowns, so that a proclamation was made that the crowns are a gift of the entire Croatian people.
Zagreb archibishop Antun Bauer crowned the miraculous statue of Mother of God. It was crowned with two celebratery golden crowns; the Holy Virgin was crowned with bigger one ad the child Jesus with a smaller one.
The sermon and consecration of the occasion, in front of  30.000 pilgrims, was delivered by the then acrhibishop co-adjutor blessed Alojzije Stepinac. Then the city of Zagreb donated to the shrine of Bistrica a golden chalice, and Croatian believers a golden rosary. On that occasion, the Zagreb archibishop and Croatian metropolitan Antun Bauer proclaimed the Most Holy Virgin Mary – the Mother of God of Bistrica, the Queen of the Croats.
The church is constantly being restored and repaired. From 1952 the following works were carried out: the interior walls were covered in marble and stone. In 1954, the artist Zlatko Šulentić painted Mary’s Ascension on the triumphal arch.
On the eve of the Mary's XIIIth International Congress in Marija Bistrica, a new house with two floors for confession and two floors with rooms for those who confession was built.The parish priest was then msgr. Vinko Komerečki. This building, planned by Stjepan Planić, was erected partly with donation given by Pope Paul VI, and partly with a bank credit which was paid through contibutions from the pilgrims during the time of parish priest mons. Lovro Cindori.
At the automn plenary session of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia, on December 3, 1971, Croatian bishops, prolulgated the parish site of  Marija Bistrica, recognized as a shrine by all Croatian people – the Croatian National Shrine of Mother of God of Bistrica, the Queen of Croats.
During the tenure of the Zagreb archibishop Franjo Kuharić (1970 -1997), came the initiative for the renovation of the entire shrine complex, from basilica, and surounding houses, to the continuation of emplacing the Stations of the Cross.
On Sunday of holy rosary, on October 1, 1978, missionaries from India, the misionary of love, Albanian Mother Theresa and the Bengalian missionary, the Croat f. Ante Gabrić, prayed at the Bistrica shrine.
During the service of parish priest, mons. Lovro Cindori, who took over the running of Bistrica parish on February 13, 1972, and who was appointed the first head of Croatian Mary's National Shrine, much had been done. The basilica, arcades and the parish court had been renovated, the Stations of the Cross had been completed, a chapel for votive gifts had been opened, the church in the open had been put in place.

During WW II academic painter Krsto Hegedušić and his students from Hlebine school were staying in Marija Bistrica. During their stay they had started paintig frescos on the left wall of the main church nave: Birth of Christ, Flight to Egypt and Way of Cross. In 2009 frescos were finished by E. Kokot, E. Budučin and E.B. Pinxit.

Since 2004 rector of the Shrine Zlatko Koren has partly renovated and reconstructed entire complex. Infrastructure in basilica, rectory and outbuildings has been renewed. Dormitories for visiting priests have also been renewed.

THE FRESCOES IN THE ARCADES

Painter, prof. Ferdo Quiqerez (1845-1893) is the founder of the Croatian realism in painting. He worked, in accordance with the painting fashion of that time, on the great compositions related to historical subjects. During his lifetime he was very popular by those compositions although his smaller works (landscapes, portraits and studies) are of much greater quality.
Some people had a great influence on his work: Strossmayer who enabled him a foreign scholarship, and Kršnjavi who has been pointing out (not so successfully) the role models in classicism and renaissance.
The harsh realities of life (he was a teacher of drawing in the apprentice's school in Zagreb) forced the painter to start to work in those techniques (the illustrations) which were the lesser part of his work.
Quiqerez painted 22 paintings in the arcades. These paintings show some of the miracles recorded in «The Book of Bistrica's Miracles». He started the painting of the frescoes in 1882 and finished his work in 1884.
Kršnjavi said about them: »Quiqerez's paintings are the best works in the church of the Mother of God in Bistrica. Especially good is the painting «Jesus Among the Prophets». The paintings are a tempera and they are later on, during the restoration, much damaged. Much better saved are his improvisations in the areas ( the arcades ) around the church! Primitively made and in some places imprecisely drawed, they, nevertheless, glow with such fantasy, they radiate such talent that we have to, by all means, count them among the remarkable monuments of the Croatian art «.

The records are taken from the brochure "Milosna uslišanja Majke Božje Bistričke" from 1987.