St Maurice - Augustinian Abbey

At the north end of St Maurice is an Augustinian abbey founded about 515 in honor of the martyrs, the oldest monastic house in Switzerland. The present church dates from 1611 to 1627; the beautiful Romanesque tower (11th C.) survives from an earlier building. The conventual buildings (now occupied by a secondary school and commercial college) were largely rebuilt in 1707-13. In the courtyard, between the cliffs, foundations and catacombs belonging to the earliest church on the site, including a fourth century chapel, have been brought to light.