The Svojanov Castle was built in 1224. During the reign of Ottokar II of Bohemia, it was used for protection of the trade route from Bohemia to Moravia. The first written mention of the settlement below the castle called Svojanov is from 1287. It was then owned by Záviš of Falkenstein, who had the small fortress extended into a big Gothic castle. The village of Starý Svojanov was founded in the 13th century and supposedly is the oldest part of today's municipality.
In 1421, Svojanov was besieged by Jan Žižka and between 1642 and 1645, the market town was occupied by the Swedish army. In December 1798, the Russian legions marched through Svojanov to fight against Napoleon.
The castle ruins are open to the public and often are used for cultural purposes.
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.