Wemding - Pilgrimage Church of Maria Brunnlein

Aerial view Carpark hidden trees top right. Photo by  

Wolkenkratzer - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.phpcurid=50295584

Donauworth had been a pleasant place to be, but it proved surprisingly difficult to get out of, especially as we wanted to reach Wemding, a country town only 22 kilometres away. Half an hour out of Donauworth we only managed to get back from where we had started. German road signs are not always transparent! Anyway it is such a delightful area and Wemding turned out to be another gem.

 It is a little town of only about 5800 on the edge of a former  meteor crater. Naturally our purpose in Wemding was to see a Baroque church. We guessed it was parish church of St Emmeram, centrally situated and firmly closed for restoration! Instead we had a lovely time following a route tracing the remains of circular town walls with super surviving medieval gateway. It seemed idyllic. All good things have to come to an end and as we drove off I spied a Baroque pilgrimage church on a nearby hill. This was the Maria Brunnlein Wallfartbasilika. This had been the real goal. It was 5.30 by then. Would it be closed? One imagines such churches are never closed (this is Germany, not Italy!) Would it be open just like God always welcomes the repentant sinner?

I  pushed open the door. A magnificent festive interior - yes this had been my goal in Wemding. Nor was I the only penitent there. It is one of the best hilltop pilgrimage churches  so beloved in these parts. Franz Josef Roth was the architect here from 1748-52.  There is fine stucco work by painting by JBZimmermann, his son Michael and pupil Martin Heigl (1752-4). The high altar is by Philipp Jakob Rampl. Choir stalls from 1759.

The rococo pulpit depicting the three cardinal virtues of faith hope and love is by F.Anton Anwander from Landsberg am Lech.(1780)

Mary shown as a life giving fountaain by JBZimmermann

The rococo-style central altar to Mary is also called fountain or spring altar. It was built in 1756 by the sculptor Johann Josef Meyer from the Tyrol. Ernst Steinacker added the substructure with fountain bowl and volutes in 1953.

High altar by Norbert Traud  Photo By W. Bulach - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63246823

I look back at this church with great affection ; also Wemding. Perhaps when I am old (ha) we shall return, stay in the town and I can walk up to this lovely church every morning.