The Styrian Armoury (Landeszeughaus) is the world's largest historic armoury and attracts visitors from all over the world. It holds approximately 32,000 pieces of weaponry, tools, suits of armour for battle and ones for parades.
Between the 15th century and the 18th century, Styria was on the front line of almost continuous conflict with the Ottoman Empire and with rebels in Hungary. In order to defend itself it needed troops and these troops needed equipment. The Styrian Armoury results from the resulting need to store large quantities of armour and weapons, and was built from 1642 - 1645 by a Tyrolean architect called Antonio Solar.
After about 100 years in use, Austrian empress Maria Theresia wanted to close down the armoury, as part of her centralisation of the defence of Austria. Nevertheless Styria petitioned for the ongoing existence of the armoury for both practical and sentimental reasons. Their petition was accepted and the Armoury was left intact, but largely decommissioned.
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.