During theCarolingian period, there was a royal palace here. Nearby, KingCarloman erected aBenedictine monastery in 876, with Werinolf as first abbot, and also built the abbey church in honour of the ApostleSt. Philip. In 907 KingLouis the Child gave the abbeyin commendam to Burchard, theBishop of Passau (903-915), (probably identical with Burchard, second and last abbot). In 910 the Hungarians ransacked and burnt the church and abbey.
In 1228 DukeLouis I, Duke of Bavaria rebuilt these buildings and, after they were sanctified, placed them in charge of twelveCanons Regular, headed by aprovost. The canons remained until the secularization of the Bavarian monasteries in 1803.[3]
This small town is famous for theGnadenkapelle (Chapel of Grace), one of the most-visitedshrines in Germany. This is a tiny octagonal chapel which keeps a venerated statue of theVirgin Mary. According to the legend, in 1489, a 3-year-old local boy who had drowned in the river was revived when his grieving mother placed him in front of a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary at the high altar. News of the miracle quickly spread, and the chapel was immediately extended by the erection of a nave and a covered walkway.[4]
In the Treasure Vault of the Holy Chapel of Altötting is the Golden Horse, or "Goldenes Rössli", a 62 cm-high altarpiece made of gold and gilded silver, with golden figures coated with different coloured enamel. It depicts the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, and, as children, John the Baptist, John the evangelist and St. Catherine. In the foreground is KingCharles VI of France. This masterpiece of the goldsmith's craft was a gift fromIsabeau, Queen of France, a member of theWittelsbach Bavarian royal family.[5]
The tradition of Bavaria calls for the heart of the deceased king to be placed in an urn and kept at the chapel at Altötting. The heart of KingLudwig II of Bavaria, the builder ofNeuschwanstein castle, lies in this chapel, along with those of his grandfathers and father.
Other architectural highlights in the town are the twin-toweredStiftskirche, a lateGothic church erected in the early years of the 16th century in order to cater for the growing affluence of pilgrims, and the hugeNeo-baroqueBasilika, built at the beginning of the 20th century.
