08/08/2026
Maria Laach Abbey (Abtei Maria Laach) is one of the most beautiful and complete Romanesque monuments in Germany, a Benedictine abbey standing on the wooded shore of the Laacher See, a great volcanic crater lake deep in the Eifel hills of Rhineland-Palatinate. Founded in 1093 by Count Palatine Henry II, its abbey church was built over the following century from the dark local volcanic stone, and it survives almost unchanged — a compact basilica famous above all for its striking silhouette of six towers rising over the water. A community of Benedictine monks, re-established here in 1892, still lives and works at the abbey, making it both a living monastery and one of the country’s great architectural treasures.
What to See
The abbey church is the highlight, a textbook masterpiece of German Romanesque with choirs at both its east and west ends, a fortress-like westwork and six towers grouped in a way found almost nowhere else. On the west front is its most precious feature, the “Paradise” — a covered atrium or forecourt of around 1220, built by masons from Burgundy and considered the last surviving structure of its kind north of the Alps, with a small lion fountain at its centre. Inside, the dim, solemn nave leads to the founder’s tomb beneath a rare Romanesque canopy, while colourful mosaics and furnishings from the monastery’s 19th- and 20th-century revival add later warmth. Around the abbey, the monks run a well-known garden centre and nursery, a bookshop and craft shops and a café, and the setting on the crater lake — ringed by walking paths and woods — is as much a reason to come as the church itself.
How to Get There and Practical Information
Maria Laach lies in the volcanic Eifel of Rhineland-Palatinate, a little west of the Rhine between Koblenz and Bonn and close to the town of Andernach. It is most easily reached by car, just off the A61 motorway, with a large car park by the abbey; without a car it takes some planning, via train to Andernach or Niedermendig and then a regional bus. The abbey church is free to enter and open daily to visitors outside of the monks’ services, which visitors are welcome to attend, while the garden centre, shops and café keep their own opening hours. It makes a peaceful half-day outing, easily combined with a walk right around the Laacher See, and is a popular stop on tours of the Eifel’s volcanic landscape.
Weather in location: Maria Laach Abbey, Glees, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
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- Wind 11 km/h SW
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