Lorsch – History is all around us:
Here we can experience what life was like more than 1000 years ago.
The history of Lorsch is closely linked with the development of the Abbey: for almost half a millennium the imperial Abbey in Lorsch was at the centre of religious, cultural, economic and political power. Emperors and Kings, Archbishops and Princes came to this place of pilgrimage. Countless „summit meetings at the highest level“ took place here with all the splendour and magnificence that the early medieval times had to offer.
| Historical Summary | |
| 764 | During the reign of King Pippin, the Frankish Earl Kankor and his Mother Williswinda founded Lorsch Abbey. Benedictine monks were sent to inhabit the new Abbey from the monastery Gorze, near Metz, by Archbishop Chrodegang of Metz. |
| 772 | Lorsch becomes monastery of the realm, receives the right to choose its own Abbott and becomes self-governing. |
| 774 | The new monastery church is consecrated by Archbishop Lullus of Mainz in the presence of Carl the Great. During the following period numerous gifts made the monastery extremely powerful. A short time later it stretched from the Netherlands to Switzerland: more than 3.800 establishments are mentioned in the „Codex Laureshamensis", the chronicle and in the charter book of the Abbey. |
| 876 | The German Carolingians pronounce Lorsch as their last resting place: Louis the German, his son Louis the Younger, his son Hugo and Kunigunde, the spouse of Conrad I were all buried here. Lorsch was also home to and the last resting place of the Bavarian Duke Tassilo, the brother-in-law of Carl the great, after his deposition. |
| Influential and competent Abbots run the Abbey and lead it to its peak. Lorsch played a significant role in the political history of the Empire. The first German aristocrats were amongst the seigniors of Lorsch. Solid castles served as protection of the extensive possessions and estates (Starkenburg, Windeck) | |
| 1067 | King Henry IV. granted the Abbey state and coinage rights. The arts and sciences were also present at the medieval Abbey. The monastery is in possession of one of the largest libraries of the early middle ages with many precious manuscripts. The codices which still exist are in different libraries throughout Europe, mainly in the Vatican Library in Rome. |
| 1232 | Lorsch loses its independence and becomes possession of Mainz. The monastery is quickly occupied by Cistercian monks and then transformed into a Premonstratensian canon diocese. The Abbey gradually began to decline. |
| 1461 | During the Mainzer Stiftsfehde Kurmainz pawns Lorsch and the Bergstrasse to the Kurpfalz. |
| 1621 | Many of the buildings are demolished. |
| 1803 | Lorsch becomes part of the state Hessen. |
| 1927 | The first excavations take place in the main monastery and the daughter monasteries Altenmünster and Seehof by archaeologists and future honorary citizen of Lorsch, Friedrich Behn: Carolingian and gothic murals are discovered. |
| 1958 | The site is redesigned. |
| 1964 |
1200 year anniversary. Lorsch receives the town charter.
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| 1991 | The Königshalle and the rest of the monastery are added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. |
