Seligenstadt - Einhardsbasilika

The official name if this church is "Basilika St. Marcellinus and Petrus" but very often it is called Einhardbasilika, just like the barn-like building I had just visited near Michelstadt, two days ago. I had not planned to visit Seligenstadt, but as Einhard had caught my attention, I decided to do this detour.

Einhard a political adviser for Charlemagne, private secretary of Charles´ son Louis the Pious, had decided to found an abbey near Michelstadt, where a property was given to him by Louis.
Einhard had sent his servant Ratleik to Rome, who then abstracted two holy relics from the catacombs: Saint Marcellinus and Saint Peter (aka "Petrus Exorcista" = Peter, the exorcist).
After their arrival in Michelstadt, the relics signaled, that they did not like the place at all. So Einhard moved the relics to a place he owned 50kms further north named Mulinheim, where he again founded a monastery, and had a large basilica built (~ 830). Saint Marcellinus and Saint Peter liked the new place - and the town changed it´s name to Seligenstadt (= "Blessed Ones’ Town").

The abbey in Seligenstadt flourished, as well as the settlement. Frederick I Barbarossa granted town privileges and had a palace built here. During the Thirty Years' War contributions had to be paid to the Swedish crown, what did not prevent the troops from looting the town and the abbey. The abbey got dissolved in 1803, the church serves as a parish church since 1812.

The Romanesque structure of the church is clearly visible, but this is not, what Einhard had built. The first of the rebuilding took place within the 13th century, when a new apse was built and the crossing was enlarged. After the Thirty Years' War the building had to be rebuilt and for the 900th anniversary in 1690, a lot of Baroque elements were added inside and outside. In the 1930s and the 1950s another renovation was undertaken, remodelling the church back to the Romanesque roots. At that time, the vaulted ceiling was replaced by the wooden,flat ceiling seen here.

Here is the parish´s website (in German):
www.basilika.de/start.html