In our trip to Germany we have seen the beautiful Torhalle of the small town of Lorsch, one of the few Carolingian buildings that retains its original aspect. It is the former entrance to an abbey founded in 760-764 by its first abbot Chrodegang, also the bishop of Metz, who brought here monks from Gorze before 764 and in 765 donated to them the relics of Saint Nazarius, acquired in Rome. In 767, Thurincbert, one of his brothers, donated new lands in sand dunes safe from the floods 500 metres from the original site and in 774 the new church of Saints Peter, Paul and Nazarius was consecrated by the archbishop of Mainz, in the presence of Charlemagne. Between 778 and 837 the abbots Helmerich, Richbod and Adelog made some improvements, as remembered in the chronicles of the abbey. From the death of Louis II the German (876), it became the burial place of the Carolingian kings and his son Louis III the Young (876-882) built a crypt for the remains of himself and his father and there were also buried his son Hugo and Cunegonda, wife of Conrad I; the abbots obtained the title of princes. The abbey flourished in the 10th century, but was destroyed by fire in 1090 and reconstructed in the 12th century. In the 13th century Lorsch was incorporated (1232) in the Electorate of Mainz and lost many of its privileges and first the Cistercians and later the Premonstratensians replaced the Benedictines; after another fire the church was reconstructed. The abbey slowly deteriorated, in 1461 was included in the Palatinate, in 1623 in the Electorate of Mainz, in 1803 in that of Hesse. In the Thirty Years' War (1620-21), the Spanish armies pillaged the abbey, in state of abandon since the Reformation. The marvellous Torhalle with two storeys, the lower with three arches, supported by pillars with columns, the upper with three small windows, decorated with columns and arches (three for each one of those of the lower storey) and a mosaic made of white and red tiles. Apart from the Torhalle, within the former boundaries of the abbey remain part of the Romanesque church, few ruins of the medieval monastery and classical buildings of the period in which the town was under the Electorate of Mainz. The second part of the WHS is constituted by the ruins of the church of the Altenmunster, the oldest abbey founded in 764.

I liked very much the Torhalle because of its beautiful architecture and decorations, but I was very disappointed by the Romanesque church, absolutely ordinary, and the Altenmuster, because it is not much more than a basement of a building. The Torhalle is worth of visit if you are in Hesse, but not the Romanesque church and the Altenmunster, even if when you will be there, it will be however appropriate to see them. Similarly the Torhalle justifies its inscription on the WHS, the church and the Altenmunster not, because they aren't remarkable buildings, and could have been inscribed only as links to the Torhalle, the first as part of the same complex, the second because it's of the same period. The state of conservation of the Torhalle is very high, but the other buildings of the former abbey and the Altenmunster are ruined and the Romanesque church has survived only in part; the authenticity of the Carolingian buildings is high, but there are some successive buildings in the area of the former abbey. I was also disappointed by the fact that the Torhalle, that contains fine Carolingian frescos, and the church were closed. Apart from the WHS, in Lorsch there are some nice half-timbered houses, the nicest of which is the town hall. You can easily reach Lorsch from its exit on the highway A67 going from Mannheim to Frankfurt. It's quite hard to find out the Altenmunster and you have to look carefully for the indications in the streets near the Torhalle (Nibelungenstrasse); you have to park the car in the countryside and walk about 500 metres to reach it.

Photo: Lorsch - Abbey - Torhalle