Marija Bistrica has an old Marian shrine of the Black Madonna which is a famous place of pilgrimage. It is visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year. On October 3, 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Marija Bistrica and beatified the Croatian Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac before 500,000 Croatians.
The first written mention of the settlement Bistrica was in AD 1209 as the possession of Croatian-Hungarian king Andrew II. Documents from 1334 first mention the church of Sts. Peter and Paul.
The first written mention of the settlement Bistrica was in AD 1209 as the possession of Croatian-Hungarian king Andrew II. Documents from 1334 first mention the church of Sts. Peter and Paul.
