Grüningen castle was built before 1229. It was in early times owned by the Counts of Regensberg. From the original castle only the Palas exists. At the place of the today's church stood a chapel since at least 1396, which was extended 1610. In 1782 it was demolished and rebuilt in its early Classicist style.
For centuries, the castle has been the residence of bailiffs. They have been assigned for the administration and justice over the large area at the Zurich Oberland from Lake Zurich to the Töss Valley. The museum gives an overview of the history of Grüningen, the bailiwick and sovereignty with its castle and country town. The museum is located at the first floor of the castle building and is open from April to October.
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.