Granhult Church, built around 1220, is the oldest surviving wooden building in Sweden and one of the greatest cultural treasures of the region. it was intended to be demolished in 1829, but due the resistance of the inhabitants it was left to stay. The church was returned to worship use in 1879.
The interior dates mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries.The altarpiece was painted by Torbern Char in 1699. The walls are richly decorated with paintings dating from 1750s, although traces of medieval paintings also remain. Musical evenings and other events take place here during the summer. Guided tours of the church are available.
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.