Wiki source code of St Emmeram's Abbey

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1 St. Emmeram's Abbey
St. Emmeram's Abbey (Kloster Sankt Emmeram or Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram),
now known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis and St. Emmeram's Basilica, was a
Benedictine monastery founded in about 739 in Regensburg in Bavaria at the
grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram.

1.1 Abbey
When the monastery was founded in about 739, the bishops of Regensburg
were abbots in commendam, a common practice at the time which was not
always to the advantage of the abbeys concerned. In 975, Saint Wolfgang of
Regensburg, then bishop of Regensburg and abbot of St. Emmeram's,
voluntarily gave up the position of abbot and severed the connection,
making the abbots of St. Emmeram's independent of the bishopric. He was
one of the first German bishops to do this, and his example in this was
much copied across Germany in the years following. The first independent
abbot was Ramwold (later the Blessed Ramwold). Both he and Saint Wolfgang
were advocates of the monastic reforms of Gorze.

The scriptorium of St. Emmeram's in the Early Middle Ages was a centre of
book production and illumination, the home of works such as the
sacramentary of Emperor Henry II (produced between 1002 and 1014) and the
Uta Codex (shortly after 1002).

In 1295 the counter-king Adolf of Nassau granted the abbey the regalia and
made it reichsunmittelbar (i.e., an Imperial abbey, an independent
sovereign power subject directly to the emperor).

After a decline in its significance during the 16th century the abbey
enjoyed a resurgence in the 17th and 18th centuries under abbots Frobenius
Forster, Coelestin Steiglehner, Roman Zirngibl and Placidus Heinrich,
great scholars, particularly in the natural sciences. Under their
leadership the abbey academy came to rival the Münchner Akademie. St.
Emmeram's had a long tradition of scientific enquiry dating from the
Middle Ages, in witness of which the monastery preserved the astrolabe of
William of Hirsau.

In 1731, the abbots were raised to the status of Princes of the Empire
(Reichsfürsten). Between 1731 and 1733 there followed the magnificent
Baroque refurbishment, by the Asam brothers, of the abbey church, which
had been repeatedly burnt out and repaired.

1.1 Dissolution

In 1803, St. Emmeram's, along with the Imperial City of Regensburg, the
Bishopric of Regensburg and the two other Imperial Abbeys (Niedermünster
and Obermünster), lost its previous politically-independent status to the
newly formed Principality of Regensburg, often referred to as the
Archbishopric of Regensburg, under the former Prince-Primate Carl Theodor
von Dalberg. After the Treaty of Paris of 1810, the entire Principality of
Regensburg was transferred to Bavaria.

The treasures of St. Emmeram's (for example, the ciborium of Arnulf, now
in the Residenz) and its valuable library (including Muspilli and the
Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram) were mostly removed to Munich.

1.1 Schloss Thurn und Taxis
In 1812 the monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn and
Taxis, who had St. Emmeram's Abbey converted as a residence known from
then on as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, sometimes called Schloss Sankt
Emmeram.

1.1 St. Emmeram's Basilica
Painted wooden ceiling depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia
The abbey church became a parish church, to which, on 18 February 1964,
Pope Paul VI accorded the status of a basilica minor. The Romanesque
basilica with three aisles, three choirs and a west transept is based on
an original church building from the second half of the 8th century. Since
that time it has been many times partly destroyed and rebuilt. The oldest
extant part of the building is the ring crypt under the choir of the
northern aisle. The three medieval carved stone reliefs on the north
portal, dating from about 1052, the oldest of their type in Germany,
represent Christ, Saint Emmeram and Saint Denis. The west transept has a
painted wooden ceiling depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia. The crypt of
Saint Wolfgang is beneath the choir of Saint Denis. Next to Saint Denis's
altar in the northern aisle is the tomb of Emma, Queen of the East Franks
(d. 876), let into the wall. The high altar dates from 1669.

The tower has six bells.

1.1.1 Notable burials in St. Emmeram's
* Saint Emmeram
* Saint Wolfgang
* Blessed Ramwold
* Emma, Queen of the East Franks (consort of Louis the German)
* Blessed Aurelia, anchorite
* The Blessed Bishops Wolflek, Gaubald and Tuto
* Arnulf of Carinthia, King of the East Franks and Holy Roman Emperor
* His son, King Louis the Child
* Arnulf the Wicked, Duke of Bavaria
* Relics of Saints Maximianus and Calcidonius
* Johannes Aventinus, historian of Bavaria

1.1 St. Rupert's church

St. Rupert's church was formerly the parish church of the monastery. The
church, with two aisles, was constructed in the second half of the
eleventh century, but was frequently adapted and enlarged. The nave is
from the 14th century, the choir from 1405, the high altar with four
pillars and a picture of the baptism of Duke Theodo of Bavaria by Saint
Rupert from 1690 and the decoration and fittings from the 17th and 18th
centuries. The tabernacle on the north side of the choir has figures of
Saint Rupert and other saints. The altar of Saint Michael dated from 1713.
The nave is decorated with pictures of the miracles of Saint Rupert.