Weiskirche

This is a church we stopped off to see with our tour group after Neuschwanstein. It is called Wieskirche, but is also known as the church in the meadow.



It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (whichwe always enjoy seeing) for a few reasons. It is considered one of the most extravagant Rococo churches (which says a lot when you are talking about Rococo) and it has another famous icon I'll mention in a minute.



If you remember from your Art History classes Rococo is the most uber-artsy of them all when it comes to classical art.

You can't tell from the outside, but that is part of what makes this Rococo. It is the opposite of Gothic in most things, beginning with the flip-flop of decoration. In Gothic architecture all of the decoration is on the outside and stark on the inside (think Cologne or Notre Dame) whereas with Rococo it is plain on the outside and covered with what the Germans call geschmuck (see below).

The other aspect of note about this church is that the Jesus statue cried. There is a wooden statue of Jesus known as the ‘Scourged Savior’.

The statue, became famous when after it had been put into storage at a nearby monastery in "1735 it was moved to a local couple’s farmhouse three years later. Within months, the couple professed to see tears from the eyes of the icon. The news of this miracle spread quickly and before long, the couple became inundated with worshippers. A small chapel was constructed in 1739 but it proved to be inadequate for the multitudes making their way to pray to the Scourged Savior." (I got the specifics on this from gather.com)

So, here is the famous wooden Jesus who cried about 270 years ago.