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St Canna Church is believed to date from the 12th or 13th century. It is said to have been rebuilt in 1820, but by 1875 it was described as being deserted and full of insects, snails and weeds. A publication four years later stated that the church was 'about to be removed' because the population had moved away from the area.
The church is said to have been extensively rebuilt in 1856 with more work being done in 1869. Many of its original features were destroyed during this time period. A school room was added to the structure in 1881. In 1909 a pre-Norman cross was discovered in the garden of the church rectory. The cross is believed to date from the ninth century; it was not intact when found but was pieced together.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.