Basilica of St. Emmeram,
one of the "three apostles of Bavaria"

This abbey church belonged to a Benedictine monastery founded in the 8th century and was built at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Emmeram. In 1812, after its dissolution, the abbey buildings passed to the Prince of Thurn and Taxis, who had St. Emmeram converted into his main residence. The former Carolingian abbey church became a parish church. On 18 February 1964, it was designated a minor basilica by the Pope.

The former Benedictine Abbey of St. Emmeram was one of the oldest and most important monasteries of the order in Bavaria. The first monastery was built in 739 at the grave of the Frankish itinerant bishop and martyr St. Emmeram, who suffered a cruel death. The Romanesque triple-naved basilica with a west transept and three choirs developed around the original church building from the second half of the 8th century. The three medieval carved stone reliefs on the north portal, the oldest of their kind in Germany (around 1052), depict Christ, St. Emmeram and St. Denis. The west transept has a painted wooden ceiling showing St. Benedict.

The crypt of St. Wolfgang lies beneath the choir of St. Denis. Next to St. Denis' altar in the northern aisle, the memorial stone of Queen Hemma (876) is set into the wall. The high altar dates from 1669. The oldest part of the church is the ring crypt under the choir of the northern aisle. Between 1731 and 1733 the abbey church was elaborately refurbished by the Asam brothers, with stucco work, figures and wall paintings. The impressive tower houses six bells, the lowest having a strike note of b flat°. Since 1812, the former monastery has been the main residence of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis, making it one of the largest inhabited palaces in Europe.

St. Emmeram is depicted with a ladder, a symbol of his martyrdom. The following are buried in the abbey church of St. Emmeram: St. Emmeram, St. Wolfgang, the Blessed Abbot Ramwold, the Blessed Queen Hemma - wife of Louis the German, the Blessed Aurelia, the Blessed Bishops Wolflek, Gaubald and Tuto, the East Frankish King and Holy Roman Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and his son, King Louis the Child, the Bavarian Duke Arnulf the Wicked and the Bavarian historian, Johannes Aventinus. In addition, the relics of the catacomb saints Maximianus and Calcidonius can be found here in glass shrines. Today, St. Emmeram remains a popular pilgrimage site. Open daily.

Contact:
E-Mail: archiv@bistum-regensburg.de
Internet: http://www.bistum-regensburg.de/