Zwiefalter Cathedral
Zwiefalten is a village 50 km west of Ulm. The main attraction, and the reason for its existence, is the cathedral [↗] or the former abbey it belonged to. It's an easy drive from Ulm, but you can also combine it with a visit to the Wolfstal that is just 15 minutes by car away.
During the summer, the cathedral is easily accessible, but during the wintertime, you better check the opening hours [↗] as it might be open to the public only on Sundays.
The Zwiefalter Cathedral of Our Lady is a Baroque building that was the monastery church of the Benedictine Abbey of Zwiefalten until 1803. The monastery itself was one of the first to be dissolved during the secularization and is hosting a psychiatric clinic today. Still, the cathedral is serving as a pilgrimage church.
The cathedral, built on the grounds of an old basilica of 1109, was finished mainly until 1765 and has not significantly changed since 1785. It has one of the largest church rooms in Germany and is plentifully decorated.
The main fresco is the second largest in southern Germany. What is hardly visible when you're there, but pretty annoying when looking at the pictures at home: former restorations can, at least partly, not compete with the original by far.
Besides the frescoes, you should also take a closer look at the figures and the confessional at the entrance side.
