Built in the 13th century by the lords of Poudenas, vassals of Edward I Plantagenet, Duke of Aquitaine and King of England, the Château de Poudenas defended the valley of the Gélise, overlooking it by 50 meters, at the opening of the Landes Forest.
A military fortification until the 16th century, the castle was then adorned with mullioned windows, opening the keep to the north and south. A hundred years later, a complete redesign adorned the inner courtyard with two terraces each supported by four arcades, and the main facade with a triple gallery reminiscent of an Italian villa and its landscape.
The monument has been classified as a historic monument since August 22, 1984, for its facades and roofs of the keep and the buildings surrounding the main courtyard, its south facade with its gallery and terraces, its corresponding roof, its terrace in front of the castle facade, its stone staircase with straight flights, its fireplace in the grand salon and reception room, and its surrounding wall. It has also been listed since May 26, 1952, for the rest of its facades and roofs.
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.