The Pilgrimage Church of Wies, Germany, a World Heritage Site

If I had not been there in person, I would not have been able to imagine that the interior of the Pilgrimage Church of Wies was so exquisite, just by looking at the ordinary conical-shaped church from the outside. Although I have seen countless churches, I still have to use the word "shocking" to describe the moment I entered the church. In 1743, Bishop Heins Gassner of Steingaden commissioned Dominicus Zimmermann to design and build the Pilgrimage Church of Wies on this meadow in the Alpine valley. Unfortunately, Bishop Heins Gassner died on March 28, 1745, at the age of 52, shortly after construction work began. His successor, Bishop Marianne II Mayr, took over the project, and by the end of the same year the pilgrimage church had been built to a height of 40 feet in a U shape. , The next part of the building, the eastern choir with its tower and the sacristy, was completed in the same year. In terms of interior design, the East Choir Room reaches the culmination of the building, both creatively and technically. At that time, arcades could only be spanned by vaulted arches. However, Dominicus Zimmermann turned decay into magic by using hemmed arches between the round columns of the choir porch, which had previously only been possible with wooden connections in masonry structures. Initially only the priest's house and the choir room were built. Within three years, by 1749, the choir had reached perfection using all available decorative materials. Construction of the nave then began and was completed on September 1, 1754. In 1756, two side altars appeared, and the organ was installed in 1757. The church was officially completed, and the designer Dominicus Zimmermann signed a document of dedication to God in the same year. It was listed as a World Cultural Heritage in 1983. #greentourism #germany #germanytravel #worldculturalheritage #worldheritage #pilgrimagechurchofwies #bavaria #deutschland #wieskieche #bavaria