Corvey Abbey

2km/1.25mi northwest of Höxter is Corvey Abbey, in its day the most distinguished Benedictine house in northern Germany. Founded in 822 by Ludwig the Pious, it was secularized in 1803; it now belongs to the Duke of Ratibor.

Of the old abbey church there survives the magnificent west work (873-85), the oldest building of the early medieval period in Westphalia. In the interior can be seen the two-story Imperial Chapel, with remains of wall paintings (ninth C.).

The present abbey church has a magnificent Baroque interior. On the south side is the tomb of A. H. Hoffmann von Fallersleben, author of the German national anthem, "Deutschland über Alles", who was librarian in Schloss Corvey.

Schloss

Of the