The
Chapel of Maria Hilf on the Lechfeld, which was consecrated in 1604, goes back to the founder Regina Imhof. She is said to have been surprised by darkness on the way back from Augsburg to her castle in Untermeitingen and got lost together with her coachman.
Regina Imhof vowed to have a chapel built on the spot where she could see the lights of her castle again.
The model for the chapel was Santa Maria Rotunda - the Pantheon - in Rome, the design was made by the well-known Augsburg master builder Elias Holl.
Just one year after the completion of the chapel, a miracle - a paralysed woman from Kaufbeuren was able to walk unaided again after visiting the chapel - established a pilgrimage. Shortly afterwards, Regina Imhof arranged for the construction of a small monastery building, in which there is evidence of Franciscans taking care of the pilgrimage since 1606. In the following years, the pilgrimage on the Lechfeld flourished so much that the church and the monastery were soon extended. Numerous alterations and renovations followed over the centuries.
The pilgrimage experienced its heyday between 1720 and 1785, when 150 to 200 processions with up to 105,000 communicants came every year. This made Klosterlechfeld the second largest place of pilgrimage in present-day Bavaria after Altötting.
On 31 August 1993, the Franciscan order left the monastery after almost 400 years of activity due to a lack of young people; the former monastery church continues to be used as a parish church.
