Churches of Bavaria

Wieskirche Stiengaten, Germany

Translates literally to White Church. Simple name, simple exterior, interior and church history, not so simple. This is what we learned about this little white church. In 1738 there was an old wooden statue of the savior that someone claimed to see real tears on. People came far and wide to see the crying Christ. It was decided that a shrine was needed to house the statue and the many who came to see it, some even claiming to be healed of various ailments after visiting the statue. The insides of the shrine are incredible elaborate and pretty amazing when you think of the time that went into building it. But as beautiful as it is their organ has nothing on the one in the tabernacle in temple square!

Down towards the bottom of the picture is the miraculous sculpture.

This is part of the painting on the ceiling.

The next church of note is this one in Salzburg. The Salzburg Cathedral.

It still has the foundations from the first church built back in 767! That building went through a fire and then was eventually severely damaged in 1598 and rebuilt in 1614. Then a bomb dropped through the dome of the church during WWII. It has been through a lot but is quite amazing in it's details.

This is the front

Looking towards the dome.

Looking strait up at the dome.

In a smaller alcove of the church. Check out all that carving into marble ceilings.

Looking away from the dome.

Jeff looking to confess.


Me looking to leave through one of the huge doors.


Above is a side view of the cathedral from the next church we'll see. This next one is almost the strangest. It's entrance is right inside St. Peters Cemetery. It is built right into the side of the Monchberg Mountain. It is said that hermit monks once inhabited this mountain side church. Let me sell you on this one...

Located just above the beautiful gardens of St. Peters...

Come on inside Mr. Bird said to the Mouse I'll show you what's inside a hermits house...

(Sorry all those years of reading Dr Seuss definitely come back at the strangest moments)

I know it looks like quite a few stairs, but really it's great exercise, definitely worth the views, and actually isn't so hard. Note the intricate carving on the handrails, and the great two tone texture on the walls....

Cozy bedroom number one with lovely honeycomb windows...

Custom made beds...I hear these rock interiors are quite energy efficient. All that granite makes for some fantastic insulation.

Now how many homes have you seen other than those belonging to the King that can boast their own chapel? I mean really what a bonus! Now about those views I was telling you about....

Directly behind us is a side view of the Salzburg Cathedral just in case you felt like a change of scenery while worshiping

There are actually 5 churches that have entrances from St. Peter's
Now back down, same way we came up! There's always light at the end of the tunnel!

The strangest church though is the one we saw on our Sound of Music Tour. It is the church that was used for the filming of the wedding scene in the movie becuase of how regal and beautiful it is. The crazy part is that there was an Arch Bishop who ruled in the area and was the church leader years ago. His dying wish was to be muffified and placed front and center in the church for all the patrons to look at. Crazier still is that the patrons carried out this wish and the guy is still there today!!! Seriously!! I was so dumbfounded that I didn't take a single picture but good ole Jeff captured it on film. I'm still working on figuring out how to add this but check back in a few days, I'll add it. Promise, and it's for sure worth checking back for...