Benedictine Abbey of Marmoutier, Alsace

Marmoutier abbey is doubtless one of the oldest in Alsace.

According to legend, it was founded on the 6th century by an Irish monk : Leobard. Leobard was a disciple of Saint Colomban.

The abbey was established on a stretch of land donated by King Childebert, around 589.

On the 8th century, the monastery enjoyed a veritable boom under the ruling of Saint Maur and it became a religious, economic, political and administrative centre of a vast area including more than 80 towns and villages.

In 816, Benoît d’Aniane directed the monastery for 10 months and wrote the current Benedictine order there, guaranteeing the abbey with a spiritual and religious influence without precedent.

As of the 13th century, local barons such as the Geroldsecks gradually monopolised power and land ownership. Up to the end of the 17th century, the convent underwent a period of decadence.

Around 1705, thanks to the bishop of Strasbourg (François Egon de Furstenberg) the abbey regained a large part of its original possessions.

Abbots Anselme Moser and Placide Schweighaeuser reconstructed the monastery and ushered in a new era of prosperity.

By suppressing the monastic establishment, the French Revolution (1793) put an end to the abbey and took all of its assets into state ownership.