It’s true, even the medieval monks had a great appreciation of beauty. You can still see this today when you visit the picturesque Maria Laach Abbey Church with its six towers. It’s the centrepiece of the Maria Laach monastery and is located on Lake Laach, surrounded by the spectacular scenery of the Vulkaneifel. A delightful pleasure for culture and nature enthusiasts.
To enter the most famous building in the Eifel, your pathway leads through the middle of “paradise”. The vestibule referred to as such is the only preserved atrium paradise north of the Alps. And it is as extraordinary as its surroundings – Lake Laach is a caldera, the collapsed remnant of a volcano that formed the landscape around 13,000 years ago. The Maria Laach Abbey has existed as a monastery of the Benedictine order for over 925 years. After it was reoccupied at the end of the 19th century, the abbey became a spiritual and religious centre. And one of the most popular excursion destinations in the country. Today, more than 30 monks still live at the Maria Laach monastery in accordance with the regula Benedicti, which has governed the monastic life of the Benedictines since the 6th century.
While divine powers were at play in the largest nature reserve in Rhineland-Palatinate, you will find a lot of man-made items in the monastery itself: hand-crafted ceramics in the unmistakable Bauhaus style, forged sculptures, artistically bound books or organic vegetables and meat. In the monastery’s own craft workshops, you can discover treasures and surprises, down-to-earth items and especially hand-made pieces.
Sunset over the Maria Laach Abbey Church, Eifel
A visit to the east bank of Lake Laach is where you can marvel at a very special natural spectacle – the mofettes, the cold breath of the volcano. In the bubbling and boiling water, you can see how carbon dioxide is expelled, as it escapes from the dormant volcano.
The monastery gardens, the sculptures, the carpentry exhibition in the Villa Reuther and the monastery estate’s orchard.
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