The present Endre church was preceded by an older, Romanesque church. Of this church, only the tower, built in the 12th century, remains. A few stone sculptures have also been re-used in the later church, e.g. one sculpture depicting a dragon and another a lion. These are now immured in the southern façade of the church. The rest of the church dates from the 13th century (the choir and sacristy) and the early 14th (the nave). The building material of the church is limestone.
Apart from the aforementioned Romanesque sculptures, the exterior of the church is also adorned with sculpted portals, both Romanesque and Gothic in style.
Internally, the church is decorated with frescos made by the artist known as the Master of the Passion of Christ in the middle of the 15th century. The frescos were uncovered during a renovation in 1915. The church also have several preserved stained glass window panes from the Middle Ages. The altarpiece is furthermore medieval, from the late 14th century, as is a preserved church tabernacle. The triumphal cross dates from circa 1300, and the baptismal font, possibly made by the artist Hegvald, is a Romanesque piece from the 12th century, richly decorated.
The church lies in a cemetery that is surrounded by a low limestone wall, in which a medieval lychgate still survives.
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.