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Founded: 13th centuryCategory: Castles and fortifications in France
Historical period: Late Capetians (France)
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The Château de Montmorin, overlooking the village of Montmorin (Valdoule, Hautes-Alpes), was rebuilt in the 16th century on the ruins of a 13th-century feudal castle.
A square building with two round towers, it is made of local reddish sandstone. Its southern facade features mullioned windows and an arched doorway. Built in 1577 by mason Jacques Bernard for Lord Pierre Olphi, it replaced a castle destroyed by fire.
Previously owned by noble families since 1096, the current château passed through several hands before being converted into a farm.
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.