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THE BASILICA OF SAINT WILLIBRORD

Shortly after the year 700 Saint Willibrord ordered the construction of his first church here which is located just below the main nave of the present Basilica. The 21 m long remains of the Merovingian construction had been discovered after World War II. A second church of about the same size of the present church had been built around 800. A big fire in 1016 caused severe damage to the building; the new construction had been finished in 1031. The main feature of this Roman Basilica was the alternation of pillars and columns, a style which had been copied later on in the Rhineland. After the pillage by French Revolution troops in 1794, the Basilica had been transformed into a china factory. After 1861, an association called "Willibrordus Bauverein" suggested the reconstruction of the building and decided to restore it in neo-gothic and neo-roman style. In 1944, during the German attack, the building had been destroyed and then rebuilt from 1948 to 1953. The crypt seems to go back to Carolingian times, the frescos were painted during the 14th century.

THE MUSEUM OF THE ABBEY

Close to the right corner pavilion you come to the basement of the abbey which is the Museum of the Abbey. It contains hand written documents such as faksimiles from the Echternach School, working material, colours, video tapes, a copy from Willibrord's tomb, which give insights into the abbey's history.

THE BENEDICTINE ABBEY

When leaving the museum, you stand in front of the Prelates' building of the abbey which had been built in Lothringian style from 1727 to 1736. This square building of 75 m each side contains a convent agd a patio. It had been designed by Leopold Durand, an architect from St. Avoid and built by the constructing family Mungenast from Austria. The abbey was dissolved in 1797. Since 1899 it has been a high-school.

THE GARDEN PAVILION - "PARLODROME"

At the entry, you can see one of the 12 columns which had been built in Luxembourg to commemorate the millenium. The music has been composed by music educator Jean-Marie Kieffer. At the background, you can see a garden pavilion which has been recently restored. The texts on Echternach are spoken in 5 different languages. When pushing the button (under the window) you can listen to text extracts which had been written by authors and historians. You can change the language by pushing the button below.