Corvey Abbey
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Carolingian Westwork And Civitas Corvey (2014); The Only Carolingian Westwork Surviving Largely As Built, From 885, Inside A Baroque Abbey Whose Library Once Employed The Poet Hoffmann Von Fallersleben · Hoexter, North Rhine-Westphalia
Corvey, on the Weser just east of Hoexter, was a Benedictine abbey founded in 822 by monks from Corbie in France, and for a century or two it was one of the most powerful houses in the Frankish north. Almost all of that has gone, but one thing has not: the westwork built between 873 and 885, the entrance block at the church's west end, is the only Carolingian westwork anywhere that survives largely as it was built, and that is why this is a World Heritage Site. Upstairs in its hall are faint wall paintings including figures from Greek myth, an Odysseus scene among them, which have puzzled historians for over a century because nobody can fully explain what they are doing in a church. Around this fragment stands a baroque abbey of the 1660s, later a princely residence, with a library where Hoffmann von Fallersleben, who wrote the words of the German national anthem, worked and beside which he is buried. It is small, specialist and about an hour. Know that before you drive two.
Corvey, on the Weser just east of Hoexter, eastern Westphalia, Hoexter, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Corvey works to a season rather than to long daily hours: the abbey, the westwork, the state rooms and the museum open roughly from April into early November, daily or on most days in high summer, with a shorter week at either end and winter closed or by arrangement only. Last admission is well before closing, and the upper Carolingian hall can be shut for conservation independently of everything else. The baroque church may be enterable free at some hours and closes for services, funerals and concerts. The churchyard, the grounds and the Weser cycle path are open at any time. Confirm the current season and times before travelling - every time.