Hornbach Abbey

Hornbach Abbey is a former monastery founded around 741 in the historic town of Gamundias (today Hornbach) by Saint Pirmin, which soon became a Benedictine abbey.  

In the 11th century, a monumental pillar basilica measuring 72 meters in length was built, which, in addition to the two apses, had five towers and a west building. Emperor Henry V granted the monastery the right to mint coins, which was exercised until about 1230. In the 12th century the building was renovated. The monastery gave important impulses for the development in Upper Lorraine, which is documented in numerous village and estate foundings by the monks. When it came under the influence of the County of Zweibrücken, its decline began.

In 1548 only three monks lived here and in 1557 – during the Reformation – Hornbach Abbey was finally abolished. The monastery assets, the current income and the monastery buildings were used to establish a state school, which was responsible for the education of new generations of pastors and higher civil servants needed in Palatinate-Zweibrücken, or to prepare them for university studies. In 1631 the school was moved to Zweibrücken. Afterwards the unused building fell into disrepair. Wars also led to further destruction; in the Franco-Dutch War, for example, French troops slighted the crossing tower of the basilica.

The Solothurn Central Library houses the so-called Hornbach Sacramentary, a codex of the 10th century, made by the Hornbach scribe monk Eburnant on behalf of his abbot Adalbert (approx. 970 to 990).

Since 2000 the majority of the preserved monastery remains have been integrated into a hotel complex, and a monastery museum Historama Kloster Hornbach was established in the basement of the building to convey the history of the monastery.

The relics of Saint Pirmin were brought to Speyer in 1558 by the last abbot of Hornbach, Count Anton von Salm. From there they were brought to Innsbruck in 1575 by the former president of the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court) and now governor of Tyrol, Count Schweikhard von Helfenstein. Today they are still kept there, in a modern shrine of the Innsbruck Jesuit Church. After the rediscovery of the Hornbach original tomb on the former abbey grounds in 1953, some of the bones were returned from there. Today they are kept in Hornbach, Speyer and Pirmasens. The Evangelical Church of the Palatinate, which owns the former abbey district, had a chapel built over the historic tomb in 1957, and it is now once again a place of pilgrimage.

To the empty tomb some steps lead down, ending in front of a contoured sandstone frame at the foot of the tomb niche. It is a window opening through which the pilgrims could touch the shrine of the saint. The tomb is considered the oldest known testimony of ecclesiastical architecture in the Palatinate.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Im Klosterbezirk 7, Hornbach, Zweibrücken-Land, Germany

Details

Founded: c. 741 AD
Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Part of The Frankish Empire (Germany)