Bathed in the soft rose and aqua hues of a fine chromolithograph, this early 1913 greeting card from Mariazell — Austria-Hungary's most beloved pilgrimage destination — presents the soaring Gothic spire and Baroque twin towers of the Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin in full civic splendor, the main square alive with parasol-shaded market stalls and promenading visitors. The image, published by Verlag Gregor Fischer of Innsbruck, captures Mariazell at the height of the Habsburg era; the 5-Heller green stamp bearing Emperor Franz Josef I's portrait anchors the postmark of 25 May 1913, just fourteen months before the world that produced this card would begin to disintegrate. The card was mailed to a Herr Stefan, a "Kutschermeister" (master coachman) — a professional being rapidly overtaken by the automobile — in Mürzzuschlag, Styria.