The royal abbey of Saint-Michel-de Bois-Aubry illustrates the transition from hermitism (Hermit Roberto in the 11th century) to cenobitism (elevated to an abbey in 1138). Mentioned by Popes Eugene III and Alexander III, it survived the Hundred Years' War and was embellished under the reigns of Louis XI and Charles VIII.
After the abbacy of Charles de Ronsard (1544), the abbey endured the Wars of Religion, the French Revolution, and modern times. In 1978, an Orthodox monastic community undertook major restoration work (nave, rood screen, bell tower) before leaving in 2006. The ashes of Yul Brynner were interred here in 1990. A private site since 2006, the abbey remains a heritage treasure.
Built from tuffeau stone, the abbey blends Romanesque (12th century) and Gothic (14th-15th century) styles, featuring notable elements such as stone spire-topped bell tower (14th century), the abbey church, rood screen, cloister (12th century), chapter house with a Roman column (3rd 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.