Hohenurach Castle Ruins, Bad Urach, Germany

The first documented record of Hohenurach Castle dates from 1235, but it was probably built in the 11th century by the Counts of Urach. Count Ludwig I of Württemberg updated the castle in 1427, building a new castle on the existing foundations. Following heavy damage in 1547 during the Schmalkaldic War, Duke Christoph of Württemberg had the castle rebuilt in 1551. From the 16th century onwards, the castle complex also served as a state jail, whose inmates included the Tübingen Professor Nicodemus Frischlin (1547-1590).

As a military facility Hohenurach Fortress also posed a constant threat to the citizens of the nearby town. It wasn't until 1765, however, that Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg decided to move his soldiers to the town and had Hohenurach Fortress torn down. All that remains of the castle site is a towering ruin – one of the biggest, mightiest and most important ruins in southern Germany.

The castle ruins are free to explore, but can only be accessed on foot.

References:

stuttgart-tourist.de

Wieskirche

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.

Hohenurach Castle Ruins

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Wieskirche