The Château du Grand-Geroldseck is a ruined medieval castle situated in Haegen, Alsace. The castle is one of the oldest in the northern Vosges, founded at the beginning of the 12th century by the lords of Geroldseck, avoués of the abbey of Marmoutier, to ensure the protection of its territories. It constitutes a fine collection of feudal residence. Built on a platform, it combined the functions of dwelling and defence. It was heavily altered at the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
The square keep has walls three metres thick, faced in embossed stone. The cellars of the lord's residence and the barbican are still visible.
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.