Monastic Island of Reicheneau - UNESCO: World Heritage

Crit. IV. The monastic island of Reichenau is an outstanding
example of an architectural ensemble illustrating an important
period of time in the history of mankind. The spatial and
functional coherence of buildings and related areas kept free of
settlement dates back to the Middle Ages. It is preserved in its
essential parts and still clearly understandable today. The three
preserved churches on the monastic island and the other
archeologically provable church buildings form an outstanding
example of a homogeneous ensemble of medieval churches in the
context of a monastic island. The crossing, transepts, and chancel
of the Carolingian cruciform basilica of Mittelzell, consecrated in
816, are exceptional both in their size and their excellent state of
conservation, and constitute a major example of this particular type
of crossing ("detached crossing") in Europe. Equally important are
the surviving parts of the Carolingian monastery with a heating
System modeled on ancient Roman examples. The transepts and apse
of the church of St. Mark (1048), linked to the Carolingian parts by
the nave, are equally important to the history of European
architecture. The wall paintings in the apse of the church of St. Peter
und Paul at Niederzell are of exceptional quality, and constitute one
of the earliest depictions of the Maiestas surviving north of the Alps.
The wall paintings decorating the nave of the church of St. Georg’s
at Oberzell are of the highest order artistically and constitute the only
example of a complete and largely preserved set of pre-1000 scenic
wall paintings north of the Alps. The three important churches
however are not isolated but surrounded by a wealth of
structures still illustrating today the tradition of a merely
monastic island. Among these structures are for instance the
monastic buildings dating back to the 8 th century, the
archeological evidences of other churches, the prestigious
buildings for the administration of the monastery, the
Klosterleutesiedlung (settlement of the lay community) around
the Ergat with the seat of the “Amman” (bailiff) (“Altes
Rathaus”). Features characteristic of the monastic island and
existing through the centuries until today are the vast areas kept
clear of settlement and used for agricultural purposes geared to
cater to the needs of the monastery by growing special crops like
vine and the shielding off of the island by near-natural areas at
the shoreline with a vegetation pattern of willows, poplars and
sedge or reeds.
Such an ensemble of churches of supreme quality dating from
the 1 st millenium and bearing architectural and topographico-