Brauweiler Abbey
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Brauweiler Abbey (
History
The monastery was founded and endowed in 1024 by
In 1048 Richeza of Lotharingia, eldest daughter of Ezzo and Matilda, built a new abbey church dedicated to Saints Nicholas and Medardus. From 1065 until his death in 1091, Wolfhelm of Brauweiler, later Saint Wolfhelm, was abbot here. His relics were enshrined in the abbey church, and miracles were reported at his tomb,[2] but all traces of them were lost centuries ago.
The present abbey church, now the parish church of Saint Nicholas and Saint Medardus, is the third building on the site, built between 1136 and 1220, using part of the previous church. Bernard of Clairvaux visited the abbey in 1147. In 1547, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor bestowed upon the abbey the title Reichsabtei. Construction on the baroque courtyard began in 1780.[3]
The abbey was occupied by the French in 1794, and abolished by Napoleon in 1802. The premises were subsequently used, under a Napoleonic law, as a hostel for beggars, and the abbey church became a parish church. From 1815 under the Prussian regime it was used as a workhouse.[3]
From 1933 to 1945 the buildings were used for the internment, torture, and murder of political and social "undesirables" by the
Present Day
As of 1985, after extensive restoration, the building became the headquarters of the cultural departments of the Rhineland Regional Council, the Rhineland Archive and Museum Office with restoration workshops, and the Rhineland publishing and operating company.
The Rheinisches Amt für Denkmalpflege ("Rhenish Department for the Care of Historic Monuments").hosts various events such as concerts, fine arts exhibitions, symposiums, and theatre performances on the abbey grounds.[1]
Burials at the Abbey
References
- ^ a b "Brauweiler Benedictine Abbey", Klosterland
- ^ Heinz Erich Stiene (translator of the medieval original by Konrad of Brauweiler) (1992), Vita Wolfhelmi: Leben des Abtes Wolfhelm von Brauweiler
- ^ a b c "Kultur in der Abtei Brauweiler", Freundeskreis Abtei Brauweiler e.V.
Further reading
- Bathe, Uwe, 2003. Der romanische Kapitelsaal in Brauweiler. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme seiner Architektur, Bauskulptur und Malerei. Cologne. ISBN 3-89498-100-8. [1]
- Euskirchen, Claudia, 1993: Die barocken Klostergebäude der ehemaligen Benediktinerabtei Brauweiler. Cologne. ISBN 3-7927-1383-7
- Schreiner, Peter, and Tontsch, Monika, 1994. Die Abteikirche St. Nikolaus und St. Medardus in Brauweiler. Baugeschichte und Ausstattung (2nd edn. 1999). Pulheim. ISBN 3-927765-12-0
- Handbuch der Historischen Stätten Deutschlands, 1970. Nordrhein-Westfalen. Stuttgart: Kröner-Verlag
External links
- (in German) Brauweiler municipal website
- (in German) Friends of Brauweiler Abbey