Grosssedlitz Baroque Garden near Pirna and Heidenau is one of the most remarkable gardens in Germany. After the Imperial Count August Christoph von Wackerbarth had built Frederick’s Little Palace as a retirement home in 1719, it was sold shortly afterwards to Augustus the Strong. Augustus had the baroque garden completely redesigned – and even drew some of the sketches himself. He wanted to create Saxony’s answer to the Palace of Versailles. But due to an acute lack of funds at the court of Dresden, which had otherwise spent without restraint, Grosssedlitz sadly remained unfinished. Nevertheless, all 12 hectares of the magnificent park continue to amaze guests to this day. The enchanting charm of the 'Versailles of Saxony' is exuded by two orangeries, water features and around 60 sculptures. The grounds are particularly impressive in summer, when the park bathes in the blossom of orange trees and other exotic plants.
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.