Founded in the 10th century by Richard sans Peur (Richard the Fearless), duke of Normandy, the St. Taurin's abbey church was built on the suspicious spot of St. Taurin grave, the first bishop and evangelizer of Evreux. During the Hundred Years' War the abbey was burnt down. It was left to decay and the last monks were banished during the Revolution. The former Benedictine abbey church became a parish church. The church, several times restructured, presents a wide range of architectural styles from 12th to 19th century.
The shrine, masterpiece of silversmith ordered in 1253, is unique in the world. Ordered in 1253 by Abbey Gilbert de Saint Martin, it contains some relics of Saint Taurin and Saint Laudulphe, who, according to legends, found the location of the grave of Saint Taurin thanks to a dream. The reliquary, medieval masterpiece of silversmith, is really delicate: it has been built like a mini gothic cathedral, covered with gold leaf, gilded copper and silver, with enamels and precious stones inlaid. The shrine, kept in a chapel, weights about 82kg, is 1.20m high and 1.05m long.
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.