The abbey of Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes was built in the 11th and 12th centuries to the site of 4th century oratory. The abbey was fortified in the 14th century and is an impressive size, measuring 72 metres long and 15 metres tall. It contains beautiful Poitevin Romanesque art. Visitors can also admire the arches of its doors with their sculpted motifs, the scene of the Last Judgment adorning the pediment, the square bell tower with round bays, and in the majestic chancel, the oak stalls and eagle-shaped lectern from the 17th century.
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.