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Founded: 12th centuryCategory: Religious sites in Sweden
Historical period: Consolidation (Sweden)
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Östra Herrestad Church belongs to a group of Romanesque churches built by Carl stenmästare, a master stone mason educated at the building site of Lund Cathedral. The church is richly decorated with 16th-century murals inside.
The church dates from the middle of the 12th century. The church originally consisted of a nave, chancel and an apse. The church was probably commissioned by a local magnate. In the 15th century, the vaults were constructed, replacing an earlier ceiling. Between 1888 and 1889 the church was renovated and rebuilt to plans by Henrik Sjöström. It received new furnishings, was enlarged towards the west and the tower was rebuilt.
Inside, the church has also retained a few fragments of the original Romanesque church. The vaults of the church are profusely decorated with church murals from the early 16th century. In the nave, there are depictions from Genesis, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Last Judgment. The chancel contains scenes from the life of Christ, and the apse is dominated by a representation of God the Father, holding the crucified Christ. The sacristy contains murals depicting the Twelve Apostles. The furnishings date mostly from the 19th century, with the exception of the baptismal font which was made in the 14th century.
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.