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Founded: 1500-1520Category: Miscellaneous historic sites in Finland
Historical period: Middle Ages (Finland)
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The first stone church in Vihti was built in the end of Middle Ages, probably between years 1500-1520. Unfortunately it was located to a very soft ground and structures started to fall apart in the 17th century. Until 1801 humidity was damaged church so much that local municipality of Vihti decided to sell the church. Woods and stones were ripped off and used as part of local barns.
The church was finally destroyed in storm 1869 when western wall collapsed. Nowadays there are only ruins left of the church and the stone sacristy which is used in ceremonies.
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.