Eicks Castle lies in the deep ravine of Bruchbach, virtually undisturbed by centuries in its romantic atmosphere. At first sight it appears to be a dream palace, which has always been a familiar stately home. The buildings comprise a two-part castle with moat, part of which has remained since medieval times. The fore-castle is a spacious three-wing building with two corner towers, built in 1680. The manor house is an oblique-angled rectangular building, framed by two protruding corner towers. In the cellar evidence of the original castle can be found.
Today Eicks Castle has the appearance of a baroque castle, which came after the original manor farm in the early 14th century. Like all the other castles, Eicks Castle often saw changes of ownership, although unlike most of them it was never disposed of.
During its long history, the castle only changed hands as a result of marriage or inheritance. In the early 17th century Eicks Castle was the property of an aristocratic family called Syberg. Franziska von Syberg, last of the house of Syberg, gave the estate to her nephew, Wilhelm, Baron von Hövel, in the 18th century. Today the castle is still owned by the von Hövels.
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.