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Founded: 1872Category: Religious sites in Estonia
Historical period: Part of the Russian Empire (Estonia)
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In the 1840’s, 80% of the people of Häädemeeste changed their Lutheran faith for the Orthodox one hoping, as a result of converting to the religion of the Russian imperial house, to secure for themselves a piece of land in return. Such calls were made throughout Estonia. The first Orthodox congregation of the neighborhood, the Häädemeeste congregation, was established in 1849, the church was ready in 1872. The highest top of the Apostolic Orthodox Church of Transfiguration of Our Lord is the clock tower with an onion shaped dome over the western entrance. The pride of the interior is an eclectic three-story style iconostasis with a sumptuous decor.
Reference: Romantiline Rannatee
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.