Sights in Augsburg Region

Baroque/Museen
Abbey Oberschönenfeld
The Cistercian monastery Oberschönenfeld in the idyllic Schwarzach valley near Gessertshausen was founded in 1211. In 1803 it was dissolved and in 1928 the Abbey was restored. The district of Swabia established the Museum Oberschönenfeld in the unutilized stables of the monastery. The Swabian Gallery, the Nature Park House and the Museum of Local History are also found on the abbey’s grounds.
Hiking/Art
LandArt Art Trail Bonstetten
The LandArt Art Trail Bonstetten is one-of-a-kind in Germany. Nine objects by the artist Hama Lohmann find their home at the edge of an approximately six kilometer long art trail in the Augsburg Nature Park-Western Forests. The art has been cremt with material from the forest - trunks, stones, branches, leaves, sand, earth. These are trassiert Works that may deteriorate over time.
Baroque/Music
Wallfahrtskirche St. Jakobus major Biberbach
The Baroque pilgrimage church of St. James Major, St. Lawrence and the Holy Cross in Biberbach houses the Romanesque crucifix the “Lord God of Biberbach”. The crucifix was removed from a church by protestant reformers in 1525, found by a wagonner and taken to Biberbach. In 1766 there was an organ contest at the church between the ten-year-old W.A. Mozart and a local wunderkind.
Flora/Hiking
Krautkreise Emersacker
Emersacker is located 25 Kilometers northwest of Augsburg in the nature park - Western Forests. Ten years ago, the approximately two hectare permaculture of the “ConCenter for Permaculture and Community” was created there - an enchanted landscape of craters and hillside beds.
Baroque/Music
Günzer Organ Gabelbach
The organ, which organ builder Marx Günzer had built in 1609 for the Barfüßer Church in Augsburg, was sold in 1758 to the church of St. Martin in Gabelbach. The value of this organ was only recognized in the 20th century. Although Günzer influenced the organ landscape around Augsburg, this 18-year restored instrument is the only one that survived. It is the oldest church organ in southern Germany.
Baroque/Sacred Art
Monastery Holzen
According to legend, the monastery high above the Lech valley was founded by Knight Marquard of Donnersberg as a twin monastery of the Benedictines (with a convent for men and for women). The former monastery church was rebuilt in the Baroque style in 1704. The pilgrimage to the miraculous child began around 1740. The wooden figure of a clothed Christ child ,“Holzener Jesulein”, was created around 1620/30.
Baroque/Sacred Art
Pilgrimage Church Maria Hilf Klosterlechfeld
A patrician, lost in the Lech fog, vowed under fear of death to build a Chapel to the VIrgin Mary. Architect Jonas Holl completed the chapel “Unser Lieben Frauen Hilf” in 1604. The design of the rotunda modeled after the Pantheon in Rome was created by his brother Elias Holl. Soon pilgrimage to the church began. Later, the nave was expanded and two round side chapels were added.
Mercantile History/Museum
Mercateum Königsbrunn
The Mercateum is the world’s largest historical cartographic globe. Its precision and details make it an impressive sight. On the exterior this walk-in Globe the first world map of the Spanish cosmographer Diego Ribero from 1529 is pictured. An exhibition inside explains the role of Swabia in early foreign trade.
Antiquity/Museum
Mithraeum Königsbrunn
The Mithraeum in Königsbrunn shows the remains of the only Mithras Temple in southern Germany. A shelter overhangs the relics of the wall, which can be viewed through a window. The Mithras cult was a Persian mystery religion, which was only for men. It was thus widespread among Roman legionaries.
Baroque/Museum
Thierhaupten Monastery
Legend has it that the last Bavarian Duke Tassilo III founded the monastery dedicated to Peter and Paul in the middle of the 8th century in Thierhaupten. The former monastery church is a Romanesque building which was renovated in the Baroque style like the monastery buildings. The Benedictine abbey was secularized in 1803. The Klostermühlen Museum is at the foot of the monastery hill.
Baroque/Sacred Art
Pilgrimage Church Viola
The pilgrimage church of St. Michael in Violau was built around 1620. It is one of the most important rural churches in the era of Elias Holl around Augsburg. The interior was remodeled in 1757 in Rococo style. The church is extremely charming in the foothills of the Alps.
Baroque/Sacred Art
Thekla Church Welden
The Thekla Church in Welden is considered the most important sacred building in the district of Augsburg. Count Joseph Maria Fugger vowed to build the consecrated Rococo jewel in 1795 on the Thekla hill. The light-flooded church is one of the best creations of the Rococo in Bavarian Swabia. It includes two unusual stucco altars, one shows the life-size kneeling donor and St. Thekla.