Pernegg Abbey was founded as a Premonstratensian nunnery in 1153. It was founded by Ekbert and Ulrich, who also founded the Geras Abbey about 10 kilometres from Pernegg.
Pernegg became a community of canons in 1584. In 1700 it became an abbey but was dissolved in 1783 under the reforms of Emperor Joseph II. In the mid-19th century the premises were acquired by Geras Abbey. Since 1995 they have been used as a retreat and seminar centre for the monastery at Geras.
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.