SLOVAKIA Živčáková

The pilgrimage site Živčáková is a peak 787.7 m above sea level in the middle of a forest. It is situated in north - west Slovakia. It is approached by a number of paths, which have been trodden by thousands of pilgrims in recent years to visit a site associated with apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Blessed Virgin’s apparitions here have touched the lives of many people. Sometimes the experience has not come directly on the mountain but in a completely different place or places. All claimed to have communicated with the Mother of God, who introduced herself as Our Lady of Turzovka. All the people but one that Our Lady has contacted were men from Turzovka, Moravia and the Czech lands. The chapel of Živčáková stands in a mountain meadow fringed by spruce forest. One of its treasures is a cross made by the people of Detva (a village famous for its strong and distinctive folk art traditions). The oldest part of the site is a small shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which stands as a symbolic terminus for the Way of the Cross from Turzovka.