Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: alien

In 1095 three noblemen donated a remote piece of land in the Black Forest to the Order of Saint Benedict in 1095. The monastery, that was founded, was settled by monks from "Kloster St. Blasien". The Bishop of Constance consecrated the first stone oratorio in 1099. In 1101 the monastery was placed under papal protection by Pope Paschal II. Emperor Heinrich V confirmed these rights in 1123. The monastery was strongly influenced by Kloster Hirsau, a centre of the Cluniac Reforms. So the second and third abbots came from Hirsau. The abbey church, a flat-roofed three-aisled basilica with a transept, a choir and side choirs was completed in 1133. It was consecrated three years earlier to Saint Nicholas. The blueprint of the church followed the Cluniac/Hirsau scheme. The founders had endowed Kloster Alpirsbach with a number of villages when Count Adalbert joined the monastery around 1100, he donated property in the wine-growing Breisgau region. The monastery to prospered and entered an economic boom in the early 15th century. The decline started some decades later and at the end of that century, the abbey was heavily in debt. In 1522, Alpirsbach's prior Ambrosius Blarer left the monastery after being stripped of his position. Blarer, who had been giving Lutheran sermons at the monastery and had met and befriended the Lutheran reformer Philip Melanchthon, returned to Württemberg in 1534 to become one of Duke Ulrich's chief reformers. In 1556, Duke Christoph dissolved the monastery. The buildings were used for Protestant seminaries and boarding schools. The Alpirsbach seminary lasted from 1556 to 1595 and taught around 200 students. Today the former abbey is used for cultural events like concerts and exhibitions. There is as well a very interesting museum. This is the final proof, that the Aliens about eight centuries before they crashed their flying saucer in Roswell, Texas (1947), were seen already in the Black Forest.

Since 365, when Saint Marcellin became the first bishop here, a cathedral existed in Embrun. Saint Gregory of Tours wrote about a "basilica mirabilis" built over the tombs of Saints Nazarius and Celsus. After the Lombards had sacked Embrun end of the 6th century, Charlemagne funded the erection of a new cathedral. In the 10th century the Sarazens raided the area - and again looted the town (and killed the bishop). The cathedral of today was built on foundations of Charlemagne´s basilica between 1170 and 1220. The northern, Romanesque portal / narthex named "Port Real" (or "Portal des Rois Mages") got its name, as in the 14th century the tympanum got covered by a frescoe depicting the Magi. The frescoe was destroyed during, when the church got severely damaged during the French Wars of Religion, so by now the Romanesque tympanum is seen again. The artists, who created this portal, had a sense of droll humour. Between the pillars on the left side a little guy climbs up - and peeps down to the tourists. Maybe one of the aliens, who later visited Roswell, stayed here.