Discover the Abbey
From the outside


The best angle for viewing the whole abbey is from the south as you leave the church car park.


At the centre of the view are two concentric octagons of which the larger (1) rises two levels and, coming out of the external octagon, the central eight-sided drum (2) covered by a roof of eight triangular sides (3) which join at the summit.
According to christian tradition, all churches should face the East, land of holy places and as all the elements of an octagonal church are symmetric to the vertical axis, it faces no fixed direction. So, it was necessary to add a belltower-entrance (4) surmounted by a double-sloped roof to the western side and square-plan choir (5) on two levels to the eastern side. This is the ancient construction plan.
Later, two Gothic chapels were added to the octagon on either side of the choir.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross (6) was built in the 15th century to house the relics of the Cross of Jesus offered by the abbey of Muri which was founded by Rodolph’s brother, Radbot. And the more slender Chapel of the Canonnesses (7) where the Noble Ladies held their services which was built in the 16th century.
All the external elements come together in harmony and converge on the central octagon.

All the elements of the church can be found in the illustrated plan :




The ornamentation remains very sober, just the central drum is crowned with Roman arcatures of a Lombardy frieze (1), a type of decoration which was soon used throughout the Rhinelands by the builders coming in from Lombardy.


During one 19th century restoration operation a heavy billeted cornice (2) was added, which purists qualify as clumsy as it is not of the original design.

The only light which could get into this very dimly-lit church was through the eight small windows set right in the arch of the central octagon. In order to improve the lighting several twin openings were set into the upper level and basket-handle arched windows in the lower level during the 19th century.