Religious travel has been a huge market for decades, whether it meant people heading to Mecca or to volunteer in a poverty stricken area. The market has been altered in recent years, however, by a number of factors including books and movies, such as “The Da Vinci Code,” and tour groups focusing on the market.
“In the past five to 10 years, the religious market has transitioned from a ‘poverty/penitential travel mentality’ to a first-class travel mentality,” Kevin Wright, executive director of the World Religious Travel Association told the New York Times. “The religious market now pays for first-class travel products and services. This is a major departure from several millennia of religious travel tradition.”
As the $18 billion global religious travel market continues to grow, the Germany Tourist Office is highlighting the country’s religious treasures, including historical buildings, artwork and museums. A few of the highlights include:
1. The rococo church “Wieskirche” features a ceiling fresco painted by Johann Baptist Zimmerman along with opulent stucco ornamentation. The church was built in the foothills of the Alps, in the Steingaden municipality of Bavaria, Germany, starting in 1745. A few years earlier, tears were seen on a wooden figure of the Scourged Saviour, causing pilgrims to flock to the site.
2. A new Jewish Museum recently opened in Munich. It features displays about Jewish life and culture, focusing on the religion, its festivals and rites of passage, such as Bar Mitzwah. The museum is located between the Jewish Community Center and the main synagogue Ohel Jakob.
3. The monastery Maulbronn Abbey, in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, offers detailed insight into the life of the monks in the order from the 12th century through the 16th century. It is the best preserved medieval Cistercian monastery in Europe. The Maulbronn Abbey was founded in 1147 under Eugenius III. The complex includes several buildings including an infirmary, cellar, inn, mill, chapel, refectory, auditorium and more.
4. In Worms, the Romanesque Synagogue features the Raschi-Haus, which houses a Jewish museum, as well as a ritual bath.
5. Marc Chagall designed the windows in the Catholic Church of St. Stephen in Mainz. The town also features Mainz Cathedral of St. Martin, which is more than 1,000 years old, and The Gutenberg Museum which exhibits an original Gutenberg Bible.
6. Cologne’s top tourist destination is its Gothic cathedral, known as the Kölner Dom, which is home to the golden Shrine of the Three Magi along with a number of other art treasures. Dedicated to Saints Peter and Mary, the cathedral’s construction began in 1248 and took more than 600 years to finish, albeit with numerous interruptions.
There are a number of other religious sites throughout Germany, and hundreds in Western Europe.
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