St. Lorenz Basilica is a baroque minor Basilica in Kempten, Bavaria, named after the Christian martyr Lawrence of Rome. It is the former abbey church of the Benedictine Kempten Abbey. [1] It is currently used as the parish church of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Lawrence in the Diocese of Augsburg.
There is evidence of a first church from the eighth century and the three-nave late Gothic parish church "St. Lorenz muff Berg" on the hill of the Basilika St. Lorenz, built on the site in the 13th century but burned down in 1478. [2]
In 1632, during the Thirty Years' War, the monastery and church were looted and destroyed by the Swedes and the citizens of the nearby imperial city of Kempten. [2]
Prince-Abbot Roman Giel von Gielsberg commissioned the master builder Michael Beer of Vorarlberg to build a new church to serve the parish and monastery. The foundation stone of the Basilica of St. Lawrence was laid on April 13, 1652. [3] This was one of the first large churches built in Germany after the end of the Thirty Years' War. [1] The building included a residence for the Prince-abbots.
Beer built the nave, the ground floor of the towers, and the choir. He was succeeded by Johann Serro on March 24, 1654. Benefactress Hildegard of the Vinzgau is commemorated in one of the ceiling paintings. The Nikolausaltar is in the north aisle. The church was consecrated on May 12, 1748.
In 1803, the monastery was dissolved, and the church became a purely parish church. [2]
In 1900, the twin towers were finally completed. They were built of concrete, which was heavier than the material used before that time. Cracks at the connections to the main building are the result of the completed towers.
In 1969, Pope Paul VI bestowed the honorary title of basilica minor. [4]
In December and January, the Bründl Baroque nativity scene can be viewed on selected dates in the crypt below the choir of the Basilika. [4]
Kempten is the largest town of Allgäu, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. The population was about 68,000 in 2016. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later taken over by the Romans, who called the town Cambodunum. Kempten is the oldest urban settlement (town) in Germany.
Seligenstadt is a town in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Seligenstadt is one of Germany's oldest towns and was already of great importance in Carolingian times.
Ottobeuren is a Benedictine abbey, located in Ottobeuren, near Memmingen in the Bavarian Allgäu, Germany.
Saint Emmeram's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded around 739 at Regensburg in Bavaria at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram. The original abbey church is now a parish church named St. Emmeram's Basilica. The other buildings on the site form a large complex known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis or Schloss St. Emmeram, which has served as the main residence of the Thurn und Taxis princely family since the early 19th century.
Tegernsee Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in the town and district of Tegernsee in Bavaria. Both the abbey and the town that grew up around it are named after the Tegernsee, the lake on the shores of which they are located. The name is from the Old High German tegarin seo, meaning great lake.
Irsee Abbey, also the Imperial Abbey of Irsee, was a Benedictine abbey located at Irsee near Kaufbeuren in Bavaria. The self-ruling imperial abbey was secularized in the course of the German mediatization of 1802–1803 and its territory annexed to Bavaria. The buildings of the former abbey now house a conference and training centre for Bavarian Swabia.
Niederaltaich Abbey is a house of the Benedictine Order founded in 741, situated in the village of Niederalteich on the Danube in Bavaria.
Neresheim Abbey or the Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra, Neresheim is located above the town of Neresheim in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. It is now a Benedictine monastery and is part of the Beuronese Congregation.
Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on the Martinsberg in Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
Ellwangen Abbey was the earliest Benedictine monastery established in the Duchy of Swabia, at the present-day town of Ellwangen an der Jagst, Baden-Württemberg, about 100 km (60 mi) north-east of Stuttgart.
Schussenried Abbey is a former Catholic monastery in Bad Schussenried, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is famed for its Baroque library hall. The abbey was established in the 12th century by the Premonstratensian Order and made an Imperial Abbey in the 15th century. The monastery sustained immense damage in the Thirty Years' War. In the 18th century, the abbey began expansions in the Baroque style, but was unable to complete them. The abbey was secularized in 1803 and twice awarded during the process of German Mediatization, eventually becoming a possession of the Kingdom of Württemberg. Its second king, William I, opened a foundry on its grounds, which was followed by a nursing home. These ceased operation or moved out of the monastery in the 1990s.
Johannes (Johann) Zick was a German painter of frescoes in southern Germany and active during the Baroque period. He was the father of painter Januarius Zick and considered to be an important master of the Late Baroque.
St. Mang's Abbey, Füssen or Füssen Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Füssen in Bavaria, Germany. It was founded in the 9th century, and dissolved during the post-Napoleonic secularisation of Bavaria.
Kreuzlingen Abbey, in Kreuzlingen in Switzerland, on the border with Germany, was founded in about 1125 by Ulrich I of Dillingen, Bishop of Constance, as a house of Augustinian Canons. In 1848, the government of the Canton of Thurgau dissolved the monastery and took over its property. The former abbey church of Saint Ulrich and Saint Afra, decorated in the Baroque style, is noteworthy.
Rein Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Rein near Gratwein, Styria, in Austria. Also known as the "Cradle of Styria", it is the oldest surviving Cistercian community in the world.
The Princely Abbey of Kempten was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries until it was annexed to the Electorate of Bavaria in the course of the German mediatization in 1803.
The Waldsassen Basilica, Mariä Himmelfahrt und St. Johannes Evangelist is the parish church in Waldsassen, Bavaria. It was built in its present form from 1685 to 1704 as part of the Waldsassen Abbey. With the secularization in 1803, the Cistercian abbey church became the Catholic parish church. In 1969, Pope Paul VI made it a papal basilica minor. The basilica is known for its display of jewelled skeletons.
The church St. Peter und Alexander is a Catholic church located in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, Germany. It is the town's oldest church, established in the 10th century, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Alexander. The main building was built as a Roman basilica, while other phases were built in the early Gothic style. The current structure is a cruciform basilica, reflecting a variety of styles including a Romanesque nave from the 12th century and a 15th-century tower.
The Basilica of SS. Ulrich and Afra is a Catholic parish in Augsburg in Bavaria, which originated from the Roman tomb of Saint Afra, who was martyred in 304.
The Schottenkirche in the historical part of the city of Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, is a Roman Catholic church building dating back to the 12th century. The Romanesque basilica belonged to a former Celtic monastery of St James. Today, it is a subsidiary church of the Catholic parish of St Lawrence's Church.
47°43′43″N10°18′42″E / 47.7285°N 10.3116°E
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