Bavaria / Bayern

This is "bigger than life". A height of 3,18m. Majestic. Well known all over Bavaria under the name "Der grosse Gott von Altenstadt" (The Great God from Altenstadt). Carved around 1215. A "Rex Gloriae". The two adjoining sculptures (Mary and John) are copies. The originals were sold to the Bavarian National Museum, where they found a new home.

The baptismal font is so delicate, that some historians say, that it was not carved (1200) for this church. It shows Mary and the child, John the baptist, the baptism of Jesus (here) and St. Michael fighting Luzifer. Down below you can see the rivers of paradise, flowing out of the mouths of that strange heads.

John the Baptist, prophet and preacher. He looks a little "hippiesque" here, with the beard, the long (rastalike) hair and wearing strange clothes from camel´s hair. He lives in the desert, but near the Jordan. Lots of birds around. John points to the dove on the left. Right - next to the flying sparrow sits a snipe. Or is it a small heron? John seems to walk through the reed to the river led by the Holy Spirit (dove) to Christ (lamb).

Some of the bavarian baroque parish churches still have romanesque towers/steeples (mostly with more modern roofs). Some even have crypts. The parish church in Peiting has both - but the crypt was locked. I could hold my camera through the door, but my arm was not long enough to get a better shot. I was told, that the quadratic crypt has four convex pillars.

Steingaden Abbey was founded 1147 by Welf VI. son of "Henry the Black" and brother of "Henry the Proud". Welf VI was already a member of the "Younger House of Welf", as the "Older House of Welf" ended (malewise) with Welf III in 1055. Welf III´s sister married into the italian d´Este family - and so started the "Younger House of Welf". The Welfs have been powerful counterparts to the Staufers - and the Welfs still exist - all over the place. One branch leads to George I of England, whose grandgrand....daughter is Queen Elizabeth II. Other branches take you to the late Frederica, Queen of Greeks and mother of Queen Sofia of Spain - and of course one line leads to Ernst August of Hanover married to the Princess of Hanover, aka Caroline of Monaco (daughter of Grace Kelly). That is the thread leading from Steingaden - to London, Monaco and elsewhere. The abbey itself had a kind of volatile history. Over the first centuries the buildings were altered from romanesque to gothic style - before they were burnt down and looted 1525 during the Peasant´s War. A couple of years later, it was rebuilt in the style of the Renaissance, to get burnt down again 1646 during the Thirty Year´s War. After a new start - now in baroque and rococo - it got secularized in 1803. Then most buildings got demolished, before the main church (the "Welfenmuenster") was turned into the parish church of the village Steingaden. Please note the little round roof on the left. We will see that again later.

St. John´s chapel on the edge of the little graveyard is a round building, built around 1200. Probably another (small) copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Actually it was moved to this place within the 15th century - and got a new roof, but there is still a small tympanon - and left and right from the entrance are two lions. As this klind of lions got out of fashion - most of the lion vanished in the wall of the later built house on the right. Welf VI (1115 - 1191), founder of the abbey, Duke of Spoleto, margraf of Tuscany and (thanks to Bernard of Clairvaux preaching at Speyer) combattant in the Second Cruisade, and his son Welf VII (1140 -1167), who fought in Italy against the pope with Friedrich I (aka "Barbarossa") and died from malaria in Siena, have their graves here.

Take a close look! This was - more than 800 years ago - a pretty big high romanesque church with a nave an two side aisles. A little bit of the structure is still visible

An intersting design. Two pillars - and a kind of braid inbetween. Well the last one is not plaited..

On the back of the building still stands a small part of the former cloister.

The romanesque cloister was built around 1200 (and this is what is left of it), the ceiling in gothic style is younger - around 1480.

The center of Weilheim, one of the major towns southwest of Munich, is the marketplace. The sky is still blue on an early winter-evening. In the center of the place, surrounded by trees is a St. Mary statue. As this is a pedestrian area - there are no cars. The churchtower still has a balcony around. That´s where the night-watchman did his job a couple of hundred years ago.

The St. Mary-statue on the pillar - in front of colourful houses. On the right you see chairs and tables. They belong to an ice cream parlour, whose owner had decided that day, that winter was gone and the guests could sit outside again. Weilheim is a center of contemporary music. Lots of (indipendent) bands were founded here. The best knon is "The Notwist". www.notwist.de/

The parish church "Marienmuenster" in Diessen was the church of the abbey, founded already within the 9th. century - refounded by the Duke of Diessen 1150. The abbey was seculalaisized in 1803. Nothing out of the early time has survived, but one stone, that we´ll see later. This church was built 1732 - 1739 in baroque style.

The Mechtihldis stone, used by Mathilde von Diessen (1125 - 1160). Her common name is "Mechthildis" and she is still a of a certain regional cult. Already during her lifetime, that she was a saint. A kind of female Job, she suffered lifelong from all kinds of maladies. She used this stone as a pillow against severe headache - and every day people come here to touch the stone. I was told that this is way better than strong aspirin. The water of a nearby spring helps against eye complaints.

The snow finally melted on a hill overlooking the Ammersee. The town of Diessen is in the foreground. There is the steeple of the church, that belonged to an old abbey, and is now parish church. On the other side of the lake at the horizon, you see the benedictine Andechs abbey, known for it´s brewery and the wonderfull "beer-garden".. The Ammersee was a barrier for all medieval travel as it continues further south into a very swampy area. Ferries were used to cross the lake. One of the pickup points for passengers was the still existing village Wartaweil on the opposite side of the lake. "Wart a Weil" is bavarian language for "Wait A While". - - The snow was back next morning!

Late afternoon in the beergarden of the Benedictine monastery of Andechs. Local Count Rasso (later Saint rasso) had started to gather relics in the Holy Land, that were kept here since 954. This treasure ("Heiltumsschatz") was increased and later even included the "Holy Prepuce". The first pilgrimage to Andechs is known from 1128, when this was still a castle. Soon after he first Benedictian monks settled here in 1455, a brewery was founded, to feed the pilgrims. Seen here is "Vollbier Hell" to the left and stronger "Doppelbock Dunkel" to the right. Here is more about the brewery (in German): www.andechs.de/kloster-andechs/die-klosterbrauerei.html Here are some shots I took here during previous visits: www.flickr.com/search/?w=42038165@N02&q=Andechs

Andechs monastery is built on a steep mountain overlooking the Ammersee. It is probably the best known bavarian monastery, as it has a huge beer garden and an own brewery, producing 100.000 hectolitres of beer annualy. On summerdays thousands of tourists will be here - and have a beer, as 5% of the annual production is consumed on the spot. The visitors approaching from the car park will see this first: the restrooms. Just put the tip into the box..

The church, (re-) built (after a fire)in 1675. Andechs has a long history. Here was once the castle of the House of Andechs, strong supporters of Friedrich I (Barbarossa). He promoted them, so that within the 12th century, they entered the nobel premier league. The name changed to "Duke of Andechs-Merania" and their daughters married into the highest families. Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia and Saint Hedwig of Silesia belong to this family. Actually within the family tree are 28 (!) beatified and saint persons.