Imperial Monastery - Paul Waddington takes a look at one of Europe’s finest examples of Rococo architecture, the Abbey Church and Basilica of St Alexander and Theodore Zu Ottobeuren

In the year 764, Count Silach and his wife Ermenswint gifted a manor house at Ottobeuren in what was then known as Swabia, (now south western Germany), to Benedictine Monks. It was to serve as a mausoleum for them and their descendants. The manor house soon acquired the status of an Imperial Monastery of the Holy Roman Empire, and became very wealthy.

Imperial Monasteries in the Carolingian period were not just religious institutions, but also an integral part of the government of the Empire, exercising considerable temporal power in the locality. In return for royal protection and exemption from customs dues, Imperial Monasteries were required to contribute to the royal coffers, and to provide hospitality for the royal court whenever it was in the area.

Centre of learning

The monastery at Ottobeuren grew to be a great centre of learning, and in the ninth century had more than 100 monks. In the eleventh century, a convent was added for noble ladies. In the year 1802, Ottobeuren fell victim to a process known as mediatisation, which was the secularisation of the imperial estates. The territory of Ottobeuren, which, at the time covered 266 square kilometres with around 10,000 inhabitants, was annexed to Bavaria, and the monastery lost all its temporal power.

Over its long history, Ottobeuren Abbey has had many changes in fortune, having been burnt down twice, and once almost extinguished by plague. During other periods, it has been a great centre of learning. One of its most prosperous times was the middle years of the eighteenth century, when most of the current conventual buildings were constructed. These buildings were grouped so as to be cruciform in shape, with the abbey church representing the head of the crucified Christ. The abbey church is built slightly out of line with the other buildings, resembling the inclined head of Our Lord on the Cross.

Stunning decoration

The monastic buildings were built in the baroque style, with stunning internal decoration, especially in the library. However, our interest is focused on the abbey church. Built between 1737 and 1766, and thus a product of the imperial period, the Abbey Church was raised to the status of a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

It was built in the Rococo style, a development of the Baroque that was popular in the middle years of the eighteenth century. Rococo has its origins in France, where coloured stones and seashells were used to add decoration to the interiors of buildings. It spread to northern Italy, Austria and southern Germany, where it found its most extreme expression.

Rococo is an exuberant form of decoration featuring an abundance of curves, undulations and moulded elements. Stucco is used to form a myriad of decorative shapes typically including flowers, fruit, acanthus leaves and cherubs. Flat surfaces are avoided wherever possible. Where they do exist, tromp-l’oeil (which is a clever use of perspective) is frequently employed to provide the illusion of three dimensions.

Elevated ground

The basilica stands on slightly elevated ground alongside the market square of the small town. It is itself cruciform, although very compact. The main facade of the Basilica features two typically Bavarian multistoried towers, topped with bellshaped cupolas. Between the towers, and protruding from them, stands the (liturgical) west end of the nave, with volutes hiding the roof.

The Interior of the church is jawdropping. The ceiling is formed of three domes, covering the chancel, crossing and nave. The apsidal transepts have ceilings in the shape of half domes. All surfaces are highly decorated in a way that would be hard to describe in words, but easily appreciated by photographs. Of particular note are the high altar, the choir stalls, the side altars, the pulpit and the centrally placed Romanesque Crucifix.

The Basilica has no less than three treasured organs. The oldest, actually a double organ, dates back to the early years of the basilica. A third organ dates to 1957, was augmented in 2002, and now boasts 100 stops available over five manuals.

Ottobeuren Abbey is not far from the Wigratzbad Seminary of the Priestly Society of St Peter, and is often used by the FSSP for ordinations. This year, ten of their number were ordained to the sacred priesthood by Bishop Bertram Meier of Augsburg at the Basilica.