Page 291 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Germany

BA V ARIA  289

$ Oberstdorf % Füssen
Road map C7. * 10,000. £ Road map D7. * 16,000. £
n Prinzregenten-Platz 1 (08322- n Kaiser-Maximilian-Platz 1 (08362-
70 00). 938 50).
Oberstdorf lies in the valley of Situated conveniently on an
the River Iller. The ideal skiing important trade route, Füssen
conditions and the mild all- experienced its most rapid
year-round climate make this growth in the late Middle Ages,
one of the most popular as witnessed by many of the
health resorts and winter sports buildings in Reichenstraße
centres in Germany. Nearby is and the remains of the town
the skiing stadium fortifications, which include
(Schattenberg- Sebastiantor and
Skistadion) with its sections of the walls
famous ski-jump, with five turrets.
where the annual Perched on a rock, Late-Baroque interior of the Abbey Library,
“four ski-jump” high above the in Ottobeuren
tournament starts town, stands the
each year. palace of the ^ Ottobeuren
Although the fire Augsburg prince- Road map C7. * 8,000.
of 1865 destroyed bishops. Started in n Marktplatz 6 (08332-921 90).
large sections of the 1291 by the
settlement here, Bavarian Prince Situated 13 km (8 miles) from
some of the most Ludwig II the Memmingen, the small health
important historic Severe, construction resort of Ottobeuren is the
buildings escaped. was continued in site of one of Germany’s most
These include 1490–1503 by the famous Benedictine abbeys.
Seelenkapelle, Augsburg bishops. Founded in 764, the abbey is
whose façade is The residential still a place of prayer and work
decorated with a Madonna in the Church buildings of the palace for the monks who live here,
16th-century wall of St Mang, in Füssen range around a having withstood even the
painting typical of the courtyard whose walls radical secularization of 1803.
region, and two chapels, are decorated with trompe l’oeil In the 18th century the abbey
Loretto kapelle and Joseph- door and window frames. was remodelled by the Abbot
skapelle, which were joined At the foot of the castle Rupert II. The foundation stone
together in 1707. Just to the stands the former Benedictine for the building complex was
east of Oberstdorf is the 2,224-m Abbey (Kloster St Mang), which laid in 1717 and work began
(7,300-ft) Mount Nebelhorn, was erected in the 9th century under the direction of Simpert
whose summit can be reached at the burial site of St Magnus, Kraemer. The new buildings
in a few minutes by cable car. This the “Apostle of the Allgäu”. were completed in 1731. The
offers a spectacular view over the The only surviving part of the richly decorated interiors, with
majestic Allgäuer Alps as well as abbey is the late 10th-century stuccoes by Andrea Maini,
providing an excellent starting crypt with the remains of still survive. A new abbey
point for mountain hiking. wall paintings. church was built between 1737
and 1766 with construction
supervised initially by Simpert
Kramer. In 1748, this was taken
over by Johann Michael Fischer,
who was responsible for its
final appearance.
The interior of the church
has a magnificent unity of style:
Rococo stuccoes by Johann
Michael Feuchtmayr are in
perfect harmony with the vault
frescoes by Johann Jakob Zeiller
as well as the splendid altars
and stalls by Martin Hörmann
and Johann Zeiller’s brother
Franz Anton Zeiller. The abbey’s
three organs, which are
particularly beautiful, can be
Heini-Klopfer Ski-jump complex in Oberstdorf heard at regularly held recitals.

288-289_EW_Germany.indd 289 09/10/17 1:00 pm