Lorsch Abbey

The famous Carolingian gate hall or ‘king’s hall’ in Lorsch is one of Germany’s most importantpre-Romanesque architectural relics.

The original function of the building is unknown, as is the exact time of its construction, but the magnificent decorations on its walls and on the upper floor give an idea of what other magnificent buildings have been lost at Lorsch Abbey, one of the largest and most important abbeys incentral Europe. Founded around 764, the abbey survived until the Reformation (1557) and has been almost completely destroyed since the Thirty Years’ War. At one time, it owned estates from the North Sea coast in what is now Holland all the way to Switzerland. Lorsch once housed a formidable library and was one of the Middle Ages’ leading centres of learning and teaching. One of its best-known manuscripts is the Lorsch pharmacopoeia, which can be seen as marking the beginnings of modern medicine in post-antiquity Europe.