The St. Peter and Paul Monastery formed the basis for the Hirsau reform movement. Its center, the church, was once the largest Romanesque structure in southwest Germany and innovated church architecture across Europe.
The monastery church was built quickly.
Construction on the monastery church of St. Peter and Paul began in 1082 under Abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau. It was consecrated only nine years later. It is unlikely that the entire building had been completed at that time, since the monastery continued to expand until the mid-12th century. The church was severely damaged in the Nine Years' War and later served as a quarry. Its original appearance has been determined by various archaeological studies.
Perspective view of the layout of the convent buildings
The elongated three-aisled body of the building was built on the outline of a Latin cross. Nave and aisles were separated from each other by seven pillars and two buttresses each. The tiered rectangular choir attached to the distinctly protruding transept arms. A galilee and two towers form the western boundary of the church. The north bell tower, the Owl Tower, has survived to this day.
A model shows the monastery prior to its destruction in 1692; the monastery church took up a large part of the complex.
The monks wanted an unadorned structure.
The monastery church of St. Peter and Paul was built of red sandstone. The entire structure makes a simple impression throughout with only some cushion capitals, whose tops are decorated with a scale pattern. The consistent avoidance of paintings and figures in the church reflects the Hirsau monks' devotion to the original Christian ideals of poverty, spirituality and piety, and made it an example for approximately 120 other monasteries.
Several wooden sculptures are on display in the museum.
Only a few years before the Reformation, Abbot Johann III had the church decoratively painted, which was highly praised by his contemporaries. The iconography can be reconstructed based on old descriptions and included scenes from the Old and New Testament, as well as images of German emperors and kings. Some decorative wooden sculptures from the church's altars have survived and are now on display in the monastery museum.
