The first documented mention of Hohenstein Castle was in 1306, which at the time was owned by Countess Jutta von Henneberg. During the Peasants’ War the castle fell victim to a devastating attack. It was subsequently burned to the ground and rebuilt after. The new castle was designed in the Renaissance style. During the Thirty Years’ War, Hohenstein Castle again suffered severe damages, but was once again restored.
The castle chapel was built in the second half of the 17th century. The jewel of the chapel is the chancellery with a magnificently carved sound cover, which is dated 1688. Today the castle chapel is owned by the Imhoff family and is available for church weddings of both denominations.
In 1763 Philipp Ernst Freiherr von Imhof acquired Hohenstein Castle. He and his descendants gave the castle, as well as the property belonging to it, its present appearance.
Up until the 20th century, there were several changes of ownership. Eventually, a private citizen, Oskar Hacker from Munich, acquired the castle in 1976 and had it thoroughly restored – introducing a castle hotel with a restaurant. Today Hohenstein Castle is owned by the non-profit Oskar Hacker Foundation.
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.