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The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (german: Wieskirche) is an oval
Wieskirche: home pagePilgrimage Church of Wies UNESCO Official Website
{{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Bavaria World Heritage Sites in Germany Roman Catholic churches completed in 1754 Landmarks in Germany Pilgrimage churches in Germany Rococo architecture in Germany Registered historic buildings and monuments in Bavaria 1754 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century establishments in Bavaria Weilheim-Schongau 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Germany
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
church, designed in the late 1740s by brothers J. B. and Dominikus Zimmermann
Dominikus Zimmermann (30 June 1685, Gaispoint – 16 November 1766, Wies) was a German Rococo architect and stuccoist.
Life
Dominikus Zimmermann was born in Gaispoint near Wessobrunn in 1685 and became a Baumeister (Architect) and a stuc ...
, the latter of whom lived nearby for the last eleven years of his life. It is located in the foothills of the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
, in the municipality of Steingaden
Steingaden is a town and municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district of Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is the site of the 12th-century Steingaden Abbey (''Kloster Steingaden'') and the Wies Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Geography
The commun ...
in the Weilheim-Schongau
Weilheim-Schongau is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the south of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Landsberg, Starnberg, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Ostallgäu.
Geography
The dist ...
district, Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Because of its outstanding rococo architecture, the ''Wieskirche'' was added to the UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
in 1983.
History and Description
It is said that, in 1738, tears were seen on a dilapidated wooden figure of the Scourged Saviour. The legend of this miracle resulted in apilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
rush to see the sculpture. In 1740, a small chapel was built to house the statue but it was soon realized that the building would be too small for the number of pilgrims it attracted, and so Steingaden Abbey decided to commission a separate shrine. Construction took place between 1745 and 1754, and the interior was decorated with frescoes and with stuccowork in the tradition of the Wessobrunner School
The Wessobrunner School is the name for a group of Baroque stucco-workers that, beginning at the end of the 17th century, developed in the Benedictine Wessobrunn Abbey in Bavaria, Germany.
The names of more than 600 stucco-workers who emerged f ...
. "Everything was done throughout the church to make the supernatural visible. Sculpture and murals combined to unleash the divine in visible form".
There is a popular belief that the Bavarian government planned to sell or demolish the rococo masterpiece during the secularization of Bavaria at the beginning of the 19th century, and that only protests from the local farmers saved it from destruction. Available sources, however, document that the responsible state commission clearly advocated the continuation of Wies as a pilgrimage site, even in spite of economic objections from the abbot of Steingaden.
Many who have prayed in front of the statue of Jesus on the altar have claimed that people have been miraculously cured of their diseases, which has made this church even more of a pilgrimage site. The church underwent extensive restoration between 1985 and 1991.
The Wieskirche has an oval plan, with a semi-circular narthex
The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...
. Inside, twin columns in front of the walls support the elaborate cornice, with elaborate stucco decorations (painted by J. B. Zimmerman) and a long, deep choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
. The ceilings are painted in a trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
style, appearing to open up to an iridescent sky.
See also
*History of early modern period domes
Domes built in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries relied primarily on empirical techniques and oral traditions rather than the architectural treatises of the time, but the study of dome structures changed radically due to developments in mathemati ...
Notes
External links
Wieskirche: home page
{{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Bavaria World Heritage Sites in Germany Roman Catholic churches completed in 1754 Landmarks in Germany Pilgrimage churches in Germany Rococo architecture in Germany Registered historic buildings and monuments in Bavaria 1754 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century establishments in Bavaria Weilheim-Schongau 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Germany