| |
The Abbey
We’re now standing in front of the spacious cloister of the Benedictine
monks, built by the holy Pirmin around 725 A.D. Unfortunately,
nothing remains of the medieval convent buildings. The baroque
building was to be built directly on the basilica by master builder
Franz Beer. An abbot who loved art, Benedikt Rischer, had a portal
built in the middle of the western wing in the mid-18th Century.
Through this portal is a direct entrance into the charming pure
Rococo-style staircase. The abbey became known in the entire
southwestern part of Germany thanks to its renowned cloister
school. The mathematics professor Pater Coelestin Quintens
invented the decimal scale in this school. There’s a solar clock
dedicated to Quintens next to the cloister mill, which has been
replaced by a replica. The representative building complex is now
home to a satellite campus of the post-secondary school of Offenburg.
An extensive renovation was carried out from 1982 to 1985. The
Baroque garden in the inner courtyard, also newly formed, is very
beautiful.
|
