Merode estate was first time mentioned in 1170 and it was originally built by ministrial Werner from Kerpen. The first mention of castle dates from 1263. The current appearance was created mainly by Marshal Jean Philippe Eugène de Merode-Westerloo in the early 18th century. It was partially destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt. The another big fire in 2000 destroyed 80% of interior and the restoration is still going on. The garden is used for events.
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.