Guided tours
Experience Maria Laach Abbey and its sights with our range of guided tours.
Daily tour
Tuesday - Saturday at 3 pm
In an entertaining walk from the monastery forum to the Laacher Engel, to the forest cemetery, to St. John’s Chapel, via Lindenallee to St. Nicholas Chapel with the monks’ cemetery in the “old” Jesuit library and finally to the church forecourt, visitors learn about the historical background, gain interesting insights into the Benedictine abbey and are confronted with Benedictine life. The basilica can be visited independently throughout the day without a guide.
Tickets can be reserved for €10 per person by e-mail via the Klosterforum. Please collect them up to 20 minutes before the start of the tour.
We are happy to guide groups by individual appointment
Guided tour of the Jesuit library with a monk
Historical monastic libraries play a major role in the transmission of Western knowledge.
The Laach library is one of the best preserved and most beautiful from the 19th century. In 1862, the Society of Jesus acquired the monastery grounds to establish its Collegium maximum. Several buildings in today’s monastery area were built by the Jesuits in the following years, including a library building on the site of the prelature, which was destroyed by fire in 1855 and is now the historic Jesuit library, which every guest of Laach Abbey loves to visit.
Please reserve your tickets at €10 per person in advance by e-mail via the Klosterforum. Tickets can only be ordered until Saturday noon.
Tickets should be collected from the monastery forum up to 20 minutes before the start of the tour. The starting point for this special themed tour is the monastery gate. Unfortunately, access to the library is not barrier-free (4 steps)
Guided tour of art in Laach Abbey
Saturdays at 10 am
A guided tour lasts approx. 90 minutes and costs €15
You can take part in this guided tour by booking in advance until Thursday lunchtime.
Afterwards, there is the opportunity to experience the monks’ daily choir in the basilica at 11:45 am and enjoy a 30-minute organ concert.
In 1863, the Society of Jesus acquired the former Benedictine monastery of Laach. After taking over Maria Laach, the Jesuits set up their Collegium Maximum and carried out numerous building projects. This led to the construction of their library, which closed the gap in the building left by the fire. They also erected the gate building, the current guest wing. Today, the “old Jesuit library” is a particular magnet for visitors to the monastery. Visitors can discover a wide variety of art throughout the abbey, from the Romanesque period through all the styles of the following centuries to the modern era. A special feature is the so-called Beuron art, which was introduced to the monastery by the Laach artist brothers after the resettlement in 1892.
Guided tour of the abbey church
The three-nave, double-choir pillar basilica with two transepts and six towers is the heart of the Maria Laach monastery complex. It is considered one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque monuments in our country in the tradition of the great Rhenish Romanesque cathedrals in Speyer, Mainz and Worms. The church is built from regional tufa, black-grey basalt lava, sandstone and various types of limestone. Special features include the crypt under the east choir, the sacristy painted in the so-called Beuron art style and the vestibule, the so-called “paradise”. The basilica, which was completely cleared out in the course of secularization in 1803, was restored to its present wonderful and artistic state in 1892 by Benedictine monks from Beuron Abbey and generous friends and patrons of the abbey. A guided tour offers comprehensive information and insights into the former monastery church and presents the present one in its diverse and remarkable beauty.
for interested guests only by appointment until Friday. A guided tour lasts approx. 90 minutes and costs €15 per person
Mondays 1:30 pm
