Five kilometres south-east of Steingaden, set in an open meadow at the foot of the Alps, the Wieskirche is one of the supreme achievements of European rococo and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. From the outside it is a plain whitewashed oval with a single tower — nothing prepares you for what is inside. Dominikus Zimmermann's interior, completed in 1754 with frescoes by his brother Johann Baptist Zimmermann, dissolves the architecture into a swirl of stucco clouds, pink and gold pilasters, and trompe-l'oeil ceilings that seem to open the church to the sky.
The pilgrimage statue of the scourged Christ that the church was built to house sits modestly above the altar; the room around it is the offering. Free to enter, open daily except during services; come early or late in the day to avoid the coach groups that fill the parking lot from mid-morning. There is no public transport to the church — most visitors drive, or arrive on foot from Steingaden on a marked path of about five kilometres.