Monastic Island of Reicheneau - UNESCO: World Heritage

History and Development
between the baroque windows of the clerestory were replenished
in the 19 th century following older figures in this
place. The eastern section of the church stands over a remarkable
crypt, the central access gallery (with two entrances)
of which leads to a hall with four columns. The loculus
for the relic of Saint George is preserved in its western wall.
On the crypt’s eastern wall there are two early medieval
depictions of the crucified Christ with a pleading saint in
an unusual juxtaposition. Above the crypt gallery there is
the centralizing choir, increased in height by a crossing tower
(stacked up in the 14 th century). To the east it opens to a
square chancel (above the crypt hall), to the sides to transverse
arms, used as sacristies today. Another significant fresco
from the 11 th century portraying the Second Coming of
Christ is situated in the St. Michael’s Church outside the
western portico on the outside wall of the apse. The Romanesque
“Oberzeller Kreuz” (Cross of Oberzell) is kept in the
treasury of Mittelzell today. Underneath the church and in
its environs there are archeological remains from early and
high medieval times still preserved and left undisturbed in
the soil.
1. History of the Island until Secularization
From the foundation in the early Middle Ages, around 724,
until Secularization and the final closure of the monastery
in 1799/1803/1805 the history of the island is essentially
identical to the history of the monastery.
The Benedictine abbey was purportedly founded in 724
by Pirmin, who probably came from Meaux on the river
Marne, and was later canonized. The foundation was
presumably facilitated by generous donations of Alamanic
princes. Later it seemed more appropriate to trace the foundation
back to the Carolingians, and documents were forged
accordingly.
The monastery began modestely enough, but then flourished
under a number of abbots in the early 9 th century. As
the confidants of Emperors and Kings, as educators of
princes, as legates and administrators of huge ecclesiastical
possessions in the early and high Middle Ages the abbots of
the island of Reichenau were the holders of important political
offices and of great influence. The monastery itself obtained
substantial landed property in what today is the Thur-
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