Established in 1150 by Galéran IV, the count of Meulan, Valasse Cistercian abbey (L’abbaye Notre-Dame du Vœu) has seen much during the history: two pious vows and a lively foundation, the arrival of the 'white monks', the hundred Years' War, the nomination of abbots by the King of France, the French Revolution, the destruction of the abbey church, the transformation of the abbey into a stately manor, its use first as a spinning mill and then as a dairy and finally its purchase by the town of Gruchet-le-Valasse and its registration in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic monuments.
The abbey, which since the 18th century looks like a manor house, retains two 12th-century rooms. Under the old Cistercian vaulted ceiling dating from the 16th century, Auberge de l'Abbaye proposes cuisine inspired by the Slow Food movement. The park and the large rooms also make it possible to host seminars and corporate events in an extraordinary setting. Le Valasse Abbey also proposes fun, cultural, family and sporting events year round.
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.