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Photographer's Note

Going with GPS is full of surprises. Sometimes it chooses strange ways and what a fun when the signal is lost and you have no idea where you are :). The church of Wies lies on the side road so it was strange it lead us there. but I was very glad as it is magnificent example of small rococo architecture.

The Pilgrimage Church of Wies is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann, who for the last eleven years of his life lived nearby. It is located in the foothills of the Alps.
It is said that in 1738, tears were seen on a dilapidated wooden figure of the Scourged Saviour. This supposed miracle resulted in a pilgrimage rush to see the sculpture. In 1740, a small chapel was built to house the statue but it was soon realized that the building would be too small for the number of pilgrims it attracted, and so Steingaden Abbey decided to commission a separate shrine. Many who have prayed in front of the statue of Jesus on the altar, have claimed that people have been miraculously cured of their diseases, which has made this church even more of a pilgrimage site.
Construction took place between 1745 and 1754, and the interior was decorated with frescoes and with stuccowork in the tradition of the Wessobrunner School. "Everything was done throughout the church to make the supernatural visible. Sculpture and murals combined to unleash the divine in visible form".

The Wieskirche was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983 and underwent extensive restoration between 1985 and 1991.

Budapestman, ikeharel, jjcordier, bayno, delpeoples, edcone has marked this note useful

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Additional Photos by Malgorzata Kopczynska (emka) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3715 W: 68 N: 8827] (57992)
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