Kloster Vinnenberg was established probably in the 13th century by Cistercian monks. The abbey was dissolved in 1810 post secularization. The Lage Gothic abbey church has marvelous architecture and is one of the most significant buildings in the complex. The abbey is home to a statue that is believed to be carved out miraculously from a tree trunk; it depicts Mother of the Lord and St. John. One of the oldest places for pilgrimage, the church is utilized as a conference and retreat center.
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.