Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Vierungsturm

The monastery was founded after the death of King Heinrich I (Henry the Fowler) in 936 by Siegfried of Merseburg, brother of Margrave Gero the Great, and his second wife Guthia. The first Benedictine monks were sent from Corvey (Westphalia), whose priory was Groningen. From 1247 the bishops of Halberstadt were bailiffs of the monastery, which was dissolved after the Reformation in 1550. The monastery church of St. Vitus was consecrated in 940 by Abbot Volkmar I from Corvey, but this church does not exist anymore. From the beginning to about the middle of the 12th century, the present church was rebuilt as a Romanesque three-nave flat-roofed basilica. After the abolition of the monastery, the church fell into disrepair. As a result, in the 16th century the southern aisle and in 1606 the two choir aisles were demolished. Between 1819 and 1831 the northern aisle was removed and the originally square choir was shortened.

The "Église Sainte-Foy de Sélestat" was built in only 10 years between 1170 and 1180, succeeding an earlier ("Holy Sepulcre")church from around 1085 built by Hildegard von Egisheim. Of this church only the rectangular crypt (and some cavings) remained. Hildegard´s grandson Frederick I Barbarossa funded the construction of the new church, that was the center of a benedictine monastry, depending from the abbey St. Foy in Conques. Here the three apses with lots of carvings and the crossing tower, 42m high.