The Mackenzie Castle is a historical manor in the Castelletto quarter of Genoa. It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture. The castle was built on a pre-existing country villa, in turn located on the site of the 16th century Genoese walls.
Built in 1893-1905, it was designed in Gothic revival style by Art Nouveau architect Gino Coppedè under commission by Evan Mackenzie, an insurance broker, whose family lived here for 26 years.
In 1956 it was declared a national monument. Thirty years later it was acquired by American collector Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. The restoration works he commissioned remained unfinished, and in 2002 the castle was sold to the Cambi auction house which commissioned the restoration to architect Gianfranco Franchini. The manor was opened to the public in 2004 and is now used as a public space for scientific or cultural exhibitions.
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.