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Founded: 16th centuryCategory: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Reformation & Wars of Religion (Germany)
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Schloss Amerang sits atop a steep rocky hill south of the village and shapes its skyline. Its origins lie in an 11th-century fortress, which was converted and expanded by the Scaliger family in the 16th century into a castle with elements of the Italian Renaissance. The inner courtyard, with its three-story arcaded galleries, is one of the oldest examples of early Renaissance architecture in Bavaria. Uniquely, the almost circular layout of the building contains not a single right angle in any of its 40 interior rooms.
The castle has been the residence of the baronial von Crailsheim family for nearly 200 years. They also operate it as a hotel, restaurant, and event venue. Some of the castle's historic interiors can be viewed on guided tours.
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.