The abbey church of Maria Laach
The three-nave, double-choir pillar basilica with two transepts and six towers is the heart of the Maria Laach monastery complex and is considered one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Romanesque monuments in our country – in the tradition of the great Romanesque cathedrals in Speyer, Mainz and Worms in the Rhineland. The church is decoratively built from brown-yellow Laach tuff, white limestone from Lorraine and red Kylls sandstone. Later, gray tuff from the Eifel and basalt lava were also used. Special features include the underground crypt and the vestibule, the so-called “paradise”.
Paradise
In front of the church is the paradise, an almost square atrium from the 13th century, consisting of three wings with open arcades. It is the only surviving atrium paradise north of the Alps. In the middle of the inner courtyard is a small garden and the bubbling lion fountain created by Br. Radbod Commandeur in 1928.
The arcades are adorned with beautiful, delicate capital sculptures depicting ancient human motifs of struggle and strife, envy and resentment, such as the so-called “Haarraufer”. At the outer west portal, the so-called “Laacher Teufelchen” (little devil) notes the sins of the people on a parchment. All these depictions are intended to encourage those entering the church to recognize themselves, to free themselves from the burden of sin and to enter the church more or less purified.
The innermost part of the paradise, the garden with the small fountain in the middle and no direct access, can be described as an image of intimacy and love between people and for God and Jesus Christ as a living source of meaning.
The Laach Paradise, which you pass through on the way into the abbey church, also stands for the expectation of a new world shared by all people without suffering and tears, in peace and justice, in which everyone should participate and contribute.
(from Abbot Benedict’s sermon at the festive service for the reopening of the “Paradise” in November 2009)
The interior
As you enter through the west portal, your gaze falls on the eastern choir room, where the monks still gather for prayer and worship today. Below the large mosaic painting of the Pantocrator Christ, a work of the Beuron School of Art, in the east apse is a ciborium altar, a baldachin supported on columns dating from 1256. The altar table is used for the daily celebration of the Eucharist.
In the west apse is the high tomb of the Count Palatine from the second half of the 13th century. The mortal remains of the founder, Count Palatine Henry II, rest here in a stone sarcophagus with a wood-carved lid.
The three colored windows in the west apse, designed by Professor Wilhelm Rupprecht, show the scenes of salvation from the Old and New Covenants. The room enclosed by the west apse used to be the place for the Palatine’s donor family. The windows were therefore donated by Federal President Theodor Heuß (1884-1963), Federal Chancellor Dr. Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate Peter Altmeier (1899-1977).
The main organ, a 66-register double organ, in the west gallery of the abbey church was built in 1910 by Georg Stahlhuth (Aachen) and last restored in 2000 by the organ builder Johannes Klais (Bonn).
Since 1998, a new, mechanically operated swallow’s nest organ by Klais with 22 stops has been used for liturgical organ playing in the south transept.
The confession chapel with its bronze tabernacle is built into part of the former cloister. It is also used for worship and quiet contemplation.
Before you leave the church, linger for a moment in the candle chapel with the Pietà, a vesper painting from the 15th century.
The mosaic of Christ
As you enter the church, your gaze is drawn to the large mosaic picture in the choir room in the east apse. It shows Christ, the Savior of the world, enthroned above all and holding the open book with the words from John 14:6 in his left hand. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
The monks gather here at set prayer times to offer sacrifices of praise to God and pray for the peace of the world and the salvation of mankind.
The crypt
The Crypt went down in the history of the Liturgical Renewal with the first celebration of the community mass in Germany.
From the Chapel of Our Lady, you descend to the crypt, the oldest part of the basilica. It was begun and partially completed under Count Palatine Heinrich. The high bases on the limestone columns and the clear cube capitals are reminiscent of the Speyer Cathedral crypt.
In the middle of the room, the first abbot of the monastery, Gilbert (+ 1152), rests beneath a simple mosaic panel (the original is in the Landesmuseum Bonn). The two side windows were designed by Professor Schreiter in 1970.
