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Founded: 1120Category: Religious sites in France
Historical period: Birth of Capetian dynasty (France)
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The Pin Abbey is located by the Boivre River in Béruges, Vienne, France. Founded around 1120 by Géraud de Salles and completed in 1141, it originally followed the Benedictine rule before joining the stricter Cistercian order in 1163 by order of the Bishop of Poitiers.
The abbey prospered in the 12th century, especially under Abbot Pierre Million, former chaplain to Richard the Lionheart. It gained significant privileges like taxing grain trade and controlling its measurement in Poitiers. Over time, it acquired most of Béruges and ran several mills, forges, and even a mine.
From the 16th century, its fortunes declined. The abbey was looted and burned during the 1569 siege of Poitiers. Though restored in 1646, discipline among monks deteriorated. It was sold as national property in 1792, and its furnishings dispersed.
In the 20th century, it became a summer camp and later hosted Scouts and cultural events. In 1993, parts were listed as historical monuments. Since 2011, it has been privately owned and used as a venue for events.
The church architecture reflects typical Cistercian style—spacious yet simple. A crypt under the choir contains a repurposed funerary slab carved with a monk's figure.
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.