Schackenborg Castle is the private residence of Prince Joachim of Denmark, the 2nd son of the present Danish monarch. One of the Northern Europe’s most beautiful village street from the beginning of the 1700s leads to Møgeltønderhus, better known as Schackenborg Palace. Møgeltønderhus was the castle for the bishops of Ribe. It served as protection against the influx of Frisian culture from the south and guarded the waterway from Vidå to Tønder. The building was transferred to the King after the Reformation, and in 1661 the King conveyed the castle to general Hans Schack as a gesture of gratitude for his service in the war against the Swedes.
For 11 generations, the Palace belonged to the Schack family until it came into the Royal Family’s ownership in 1978. In 1993, Schackenborg Palace and its associated farm and lands were taken over by Prince Joachim. The Palace is not open to the public. In summer, there are guided tours to the palace garden.
References: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.