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Founded: 1307Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
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The parish church dedicated to St .George is mentioned for first time in historical sources dating 1229; the earliest church on the site was a Late Romanesque Brick Gothic basilica built without a steeple. In 1289, the basilica was largely destroyed in a fire. Thanks to contributions from the sale of papal indulgences, St. George's church was rebuilt as a Gothic four tiered hall church with three naves; it was consecrated anew in 1307. Around 1400, the hall choir was enlarged and a large hall-style ambulatory was installed. This set of renovations also saw the installation of two-storied, transept-style annexes in the northern and southern parts of the church adorned with ornamental gables. In 1612, the steeple top caught on fire and was replaced by a humble gabled roof.
The church's interior houses many valuable works of art. Amongst the most notable dating to the pre-Reformation epoch are a two-tiered convertable winged alter (ca. 1421), an oak sculpture depicted Jesus as a man of sorrows (1400) and a group of crosses representing Christ's triumph (1480). Valuable images and carvings dating to the Rennaissance include the church's pulpit (1580) and the alderman's bank (1608-23); equally valuable are a baptism font from 1620, with their large brass basins dating to the 15th century and a Friese-3 brand organ (1871). Extensive renovations of the church's interior were carried out in 1844 and 1898; the latter aimed to render visible once more the medieval form of the church's Brick Gothic walls.
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.