Originally a monastery dating from the 12th century, the red-bricked cathedral dedicated to St Mary Mother of Mercy was built in its place with a two-towered, three nave basilica between 1892 and 1900, according to a design by Viennese architect Richard Jordan. However, the old monastery was constructed in rather more heroic circumstances with local woman carrying the bricks for its construction all the way from nearby Melje.
The majority of paintings inside the church were painted by the Hungarian artist Ferenz Pruszinskay, the Way of the Cross was carved by Miloš Hohnjec from Celje; the organ was made by the Mariborian master Jožef Brandl. On the main altar is the pilgrimage statue of Mary dating from the 18th century. In the presbytery there are frescoes and stained glass windows that are the work of the artist Stane Kregar.
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.