Steingaden Things to Do

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Not far away from Steingaden is another gem of Bavaria's churches. From what I have read it was once built as a pestilence chapel; these had been built together with the cemeteries for pestilence victims way outside of towns. End of 17th centurs it was reconstructed by Johann Schmuzer from Wessobrunn, one of the central figures of Bavarian Baroque and Rococo church style. From the outside the church looks rather plain and nothing prepares you for the interior. It is only one room with side altars, but it is very much light and airy inside with the elaborate stucco work on the ceiling. Here no frescoes adorn the ceiling but I didn’t miss them because the whole interior is harmonic the way it was made. Maybe it is the combination of the light colours and marvellous stucco with the pink and red marble (?) pillars of the altarpieces that makes this church so interesting to look at.
Note that it is not possible to go inside the main room, but only to look at the interior through the iron gate which is at the end of the main room, below the organ.

The setting of Ilgen church is very much idyllic and although the quickest way to reach the church is via road 17, I recommend driving the detour via Rottenbuch. This is road St. 2058. From Steingaden drive direction Wies Church and Rottenbuch (st. 2059), then turn left (north) into road 23, direction Rottenbuch and at the crossing where Rottenbuch is to the right (east), turn left direction Ilgen, road St. 2058. The view when Ilgen church comes into sight is lovely and very much picturesque, especially with the cows on the meadows.

More photos in my Ilgen Church travelogue.

Location of Ilgen Church on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS, Facebook users or others come along and think they can steal texts or photos without permission).

continue with next review => other splendid churches nearby
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What can be said about this marvellous church that hasn’t been said already? It is certainly one of Bavaria’s church jewels, with accolade by UNESCO, and receives countless visitors during the year. The story has it that a statue of Christ (The Scourged Saviour) which was in the house of a farmer family, suddenly showed tears in 1738, followed by answers to prayers. This lead to pilgrimages and soon the church was built. Dominikus Zimmermann and his brother Baptist were the builders and indeed constructed a masterpiece of Bavarian rococo. The centre of the church is oval, that is where the benches are and sitting there instead of walking around is in my opinion the only way to take in the splendour of the interior. Otherwise one might easily miss the many marvellous details. I was inside on my first afternoon, a sunny Sunday, together with many visitors and a noise level very much above the stillness that should be respected inside of any church. I walked around, looked at the moving votive panels, paintings and letters and tried to concentrate on the frescoes on the ceiling. But on my last evening, a cold and snowy Saturday evening I was alone in the church, the organist played (see “Favourite” section) and I had the time to sit and look around. It was then when I saw the many many marvellous details, such as the little balconies near the ceiling, the many statues and angels everywhere and it was indeed only then when I felt the magic of this place. And this was when I was so moved that I was just sitting there, tears in my eyes, and happy to be on this planet.

The church is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter. How they define winter and summer is cute: when the daylight saving time is over, summer is over. No entrance fee, but it would be good to leave a donation. They have separate donation boxes for the church renovation.
Outside the church, in the small hall, is a rack with several brochures and booklets for sale. The one about the church is available in German and English and costs 2,50 Euro.

More photos in my travelogues Wies Church, interior and Wies Church, outside.

Location of Wies Church on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS, Facebook users or others come along and think they can steal texts or photos without permission).

continue with next review => nearby Ilgen with another beautiful church
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The most charming part of Steingaden in my opinion is the monastery garden. It was created in 2008, by the locals and the school kids and kinder garden kids, lead by the local fruit and garden association (something like the horticultural society). It is not only charming but also very much spiritual in there. Plants and plant groups look as if all are arranged incidentally but I am sure they are not. An excellent description of the garden is on the website I have linked in the website section below, but apart from that I didn’t find anything in English, so I take the freedom to roughly “translate”:
The garden has been built on the four pillars of monastic garden concepts: healing, feeding, spirituality, leisure. The inscription on the old wooden bar at the wall to the church ground says “What God lets grow from earth shall be collected here”. This wooden bar is several centuries old and once hung above a barn nearby.

Based on the ideas of Hildegard of Bingen the garden was built on a holistic concept, not only considering man and body and soul but also man in connection to the above all trinity of God, man and creation. Or to show the spirituality in creation and how we all can learn and profit from it by reflecting that we are all part of it and will never be able to just “rule” the world and nature.

The garden has several theme related parts:
• Healing and wild herbs from the meadows,
• Herbs that grow in the gardens,
• Monastic herbal garden
• Wet meadow,
• Farmers’ gardens,
• Plants described in the bible,
• Rock garden (because Steingaden means rock garden :-),
• Decay – extinction – change – new life: in context to compost
• A labyrinth as the spiritual centre.
Each herbal plant, symbol plant and agricultural plant has a description plate, often handmade from clay, with information about its healing or feeding properties and about its spiritual character, e.g. which saint the plant is being attributed to. The ones in the monastic garden part are particularly described in detail: flowering time, which plant parts have which healing properties etc.

The garden is open during the same time church and church grounds are open. I really enjoyed my stay there. It was a very quiet spot in these early October days. What I especially liked were the many little art objects inside, made by the local kids, like wind chimes and other decoration objects.

More photos in my Monastery Garden travelogue.

Location of Monastery Garden on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS, Facebook users or others come along and think they can steal texts or photos without permission).

continue with next review => Wies Church in all her splendour
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Once inside of Steingaden’s church, please make sure that you step outside the little entrance on the right hand side to look at the remains of the cloister. It is very archaic, a nice contrast to the splendour of the Rococo-Baroque church. This is the only wing which is left after secularisation. Core of the cloister is the little fountain chapel of 15th century, its walls over and over decorated with frescoes. I have read that it is the only one of its kind which is remained in Bavaria. It is indeed beautiful, especially when the sun is shining and the colours come to full life. But also the vault is beautiful, especially with the marvellous final stones in the ceiling and at the end of the pillars.
The tympanum above the door to the church is rather new, from 1970. It shows Christ who overcomes sin and leads mankind to a new life rather than into death.

More photos of impressions of the cloister and cloister details in my travelogues.

Location of Steingaden church cloister on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS, Facebook users or others come along and think they can steal texts or photos without permission).

continue with next review => beautiful & spiritual monastery garden
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As much as I liked the interior of Wies Church, Steingaden’s Welfenmünster, or St. Johannes Baptist, the church of Steingaden, impressed me maybe even more. I don’t know what it was, maybe that it is the parish church and thus relates more to the daily life of the locals, or maybe because it is a marvellous combination of all architectural styles or maybe it is the frescoes which are “closer” to the observer standing inside the church. Yes, the architectural styles: the church was founded by Welf VI, member of the Italo-German family of Welfs and thus was built in Romanesque style. End of 15th century the church was restored in early Gothic style. The major parts of the monastery were destroyed during the German Peasants War and later during Thirty Years War and then rebuilt 1663 in early Baroque. The nave was adorned with frescoes in 1740, of rococo period. The most fascinating is that parts of each of the styles are still there, harmoniously combined with each other. The exterior resembles the Romanesque, and also the remaining part of the former cloister is left from that period. The vaults in the entrance hall and the cloister are of Gothic style.

Take your time inside of the church. Don’t miss to stay a while in the entrance hall and look at the Welf Chronicle. The little booklet which is available for a fee describes the single pictures in details. Have a look at the little leaf (presumably plane) which has been incorporated into the glass of the entrance door into the church. I forgot to take a photo though but luckily Wikipedia has one. And then go inside the church and stay there for a while. Look at each of the frescoes which show the story of Welf and how he looks at the building plans of his monastery. The frescoes also tell the story of Norbert of Xanthen, founder of the order of Premonsterians. The frescoes are definitely a feast to look at.

The church is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in winter. Closed for visitors of course during service (Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays and holidays at 10:15 a.m.). There is no entrance fee but it would be good to leave a donation for restoring.

On a side note: for me it was interesting to learn that Welf VI was also duke of Spoleto, which is one of the Umbria towns, and that he was also margrave of Tuscany. He must have been a relative somehow of Mathilda of Tuscany, the woman who lived in her fortress of Canossa and who had arranged the meeting between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV from Speyer to end their dispute regarding the investiture.

More photos in my travelogues Welf VI and VII, the founders, interior impressions and frescoes.

Location of Steingaden’s church on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS, Facebook users or others come along and think they can steal texts or photos without permission).

continue with next review => little chapel at the entrance of the monastery ground
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This little chapel at the entrance to the former monastery ground is also something that shouldn’t be missed. The door is open during the visiting times of the church. The chapel is dedicated to St. John and was built by Welf VI, so it is part of the original complex. It is said that it should be a remembrance to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was once painted, still seen in the relief above the entrance and on the vault. Inside it has tombs of counts of the empire (Reichsgrafen Eckbrecht von Dürckheim-Montmartin, to be precise).

Location of St. John’s chapel on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS, Facebook users or others come along and think they can steal texts or photos without permission).

continue with next review => marvellous old cloister remains
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Pfaffenwinkel region of Bavaria is rather compact. It forms almost a square with a diameter of approx. 40 km. Thus, many of these gem churches of the region are in easy reach, less than one hour drive from Steingaden. I have visited many churches during my short stay in the region and will write separately about most of them.
The ones in easy reach of Steingaden are:
Rottenbuch, with former monastery (10 km to the east),
Schongau town and church Maria Himmelfahrt (20 km to the north),
Hohenpeißenberg with a marvellous view and church Maria Himmelfahrt (20 km to the northeast),
Hohenfurch with church Maria Himmelfahrt (21 km to the north),
Altenstadt with the Romanesque Basilica St. Michael (20 km to the north),
Sachsenried with the beautiful church St. Martin (25 km to the northwest),
Wessobrunn with a former monastery (35 km to the north).

© Ingrid D., October 2011 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).

continue with next review => the master builder is buried in Steingaden
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The Pfarrkirche St.Johannes der Taufer is a beautiful well preserved Romanesque church, built in the second halves the twelfth century and partially reconstructed partially three centuries later. It is a basilica with colonnade and triple apse with two twin bell tower on the west facade.

The architect Dominikus Zimmermann (1766) is buried in the Romanesque chapel of St. John to the entrance of the church.

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Of the original abbey built by the monks in 1147 has remained the western cloister, some frescos to the entrance of the church and the beautiful Romanesque front door.