Today, the French Church in Bern is much more than just a place of prayer and refuge. It is now the oldest sacred building in the capital and attracts fans of architecture, art and culture alike.
The place of worship was built in the 13th century by the local Dominicans. From 1623 onward it served the Protestant community and was home to French church services. Later, the church became known as a safe haven for the Huguenots.
Located just a stone’s throw away from the Kornhaus granary and Bern’s Lower Old Town, the French Church’s architectural and artistic elements are a monument to the past. Gothic pillars with high, narrow windows are combined with the austerity of the Reformation. The wooden ceiling panels in the central nave are complemented by meticulously painted wall murals around the triumphal arches. Art lovers can feast their eyes on the Nelkenmeister frescoes and test their eyesight searching for the two hidden Nägeli.
An ornate organ adorns the wall on the rood screen above the altar. Its unmistakable tones (the organ is one of the best in the city), along with the choral concerts and musical productions of major works, regularly flood the church’s interior with imposing, harmonious and polyphonic melodies. The French Church’s splendid acoustics ensure that concerts are truly memorable experiences.
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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.