Kloster Steinfeld

The first monastic settlement here took place in about 1070, the Premonstratensians, founded by Norbert von Xanten in Prémontré near Laon in 1120, settled here in 1130. In 1184 it was raised to the status of an abbey - Steinfeld Abbey. It became an important monastery, had property in Cologne and established a number of daughter houses ("filiae") including the Strahov Abbey in Prague and the Sayn Abbey, near Koblenz. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles ownes the Steinfeld Missale that was created here around 1180.

The Premonstratensian abbey existed upto 1802, when it got secularized. Now this is Salvatorian convent. So the Salavatians take care of the basilica, erected between 1142 and 1150 by the Premonstratensians as one of the earliest vaulted churches in Germany.

Saint Hermann Joseph (1150 – 1241) lived here, a Premonstratensian canon regular and mystic.

The nave of the basilica. The structure of the church is clearly Romanesque, but there are many later addons, like the Baroque pulpit and in the center Saint Hermann Joseph´s tomp, where visitors and pilgrims have lit lots of candles.

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