Attractions and Places To See around Erkheim - Top 20

Ottobeuren Market Square / Market Chronicle Probably none of the visitors who stay in Ottobeuren today, for a shorter or longer period of time, can imagine how this approximately 1,500-year-old, historic town was founded. When visitors arrive in Ottobeuren from all directions by private car, taxi, or bus, their first gaze is usually drawn to the mighty basilica with its monastery buildings. No one considers that the very ground they have just set foot on was once impassable terrain, moorland, swamp, and densely wooded area. Nevertheless, a man had dared to gain a foothold here, clear the forest, and establish a human settlement. What Stone Age hunters and fishers had failed to achieve much earlier—namely, to settle here—had become the life's work of a man named Uot. At the site where the market square stands today, the first giant trees soon collapsed under the axe blows of the Uot farmers. Huts were built from rough beams, livestock was raised, and fields were cultivated. Only a few huts in the middle of the forest housed the Uot clan. Uot, the Swabian, founded Ottobeuren in the 5th century. Text / Source: Ottobeuren Tourist Office, Marktplatz 14, Ottobeuren https://www.ottobeuren.de/de/marktgemeinde/rathaus/markt-chronik.php

Basilica of St. Alexander and St. Theodore, Ottobeuren The magnificent basilica, dedicated to the two Roman martyrs Alexander (162) and Theodore (306), is certainly one of the most beautiful Baroque churches in southern Germany. With its two 82-meter-high onion domes, it stands on a gently rising ridge west of the market square, visible from afar above the valley of the western Günz River. Due to its dominant, free position within the entire building complex, the basilica plays an undeniable presiding role. This concept of placing the church in front of the monastery was not, however, an Ottobeuren invention. Rather, it can be traced back to the famous Swabian architectural theorist Joseph Furtenbach, who published it in 1628 in his work "Architectura Civilis" as the ideal form for a women's monastery. Other monasteries were also built according to this pattern: Kempten in 1651, Seedorf/CH in 1682, Obermarchtal in 1686, Holzen in 1696, Klosterwald in 1714, Sießen in 1716, and Fiecht/Tyrol in 1707. The foundation stone was laid on September 27, 1737, at the present main portal. During the reigns of Abbots Rupert Neß and Anselm Erb, it was built as a monastery church from 1737 to 1766 by Simpert Kraemer (until 1748) and Johann Michael Fischer. The very rich late-Bavarian furnishings include dome and ceiling frescoes and altarpieces by Johann Jakob and Franz Anton Zeiller from Tyrol, stucco figures by Johann Joseph Christian, and stucco work by Johann Michael Feuchtmayer the Younger. It boasts two widely renowned Baroque choir organs by Karl Joseph Riepp: the four-manual Trinity Organ with 47 stops and the two-manual Holy Spirit Organ with 27 stops, both with a French sound. The choir stalls are by Martin Hermann (carpentry) and Johann Joseph Christian (reliefs). The focal point of the church is the Romanesque crucifix (ca. 1220). The church's unusual north-south orientation is due to its location within the overall complex, whose floor plan is in the shape of a cross. In 1926, the monastery church was elevated to a Papal Basilica/Basilica Minor by Pope Pius XI. Text / Source: Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren, Sebastian-Kneipp-Str. 1, Ottobeuren https://www.abtei-ottobeuren.de/content/klosteranlage/die-basilika/

Beautiful, late baroque basilica. Take your time. There are thousands of pictures and figures to discover. 😍🥰👍

Wonderful basilica with a museum. It's absolutely worth a visit.

The first church must have been built when the monastery was founded in 764. A new building is documented in 1089.[1] As early as 1204, another new building with a St. Michael's choir in the west was started. There was an Ursula tomb under St. Michael's Choir. In 1525 the monastery and church were looted during the Peasants' War. The renovation of the Gothic church began in 1553. First, the Michael's choir with the Ursula crypt was demolished and replaced by a wider monks' choir. The high choir, which was still east at the time, was provided with a crypt. The octagonal ends of the two east towers were crowned with onion domes. On September 21, 1558, the church, which was renovated in the Renaissance style, was inaugurated. During the Thirty Years' War, the church and monastery were devastated several times between 1630 and 1635. In 1682, the construction of a new baroque monastery was planned, which began in 1686 with the baroque conversion of the old church. However, this conversion was stopped shortly afterwards. From 1711 the entire monastery complex was demolished piece by piece and replaced by a new, baroque building. The monastery church was rebuilt between 1737 and 1766. In 1802 the imperial abbey was dissolved in the course of secularization, the church became the property of the Electorate of Bavaria and later the Kingdom of Bavaria. Some of the 48 monks at the time were allowed to continue monastic life in Ottobeuren, Upper Swabia, which was only possible under difficult conditions. So the monastery church continued to exist as such. From 1834/1835 the monastery and monastery church were continued as a dependent priory of the Benedictine Abbey of Augsburg. On January 25, 1926, Pope Pius XI. the abbey church with the apostolic exhortation Refert ad Nos was given the title Basilica minor.[2] Between 1960 and 1964 the basilica was extensively renovated inside and out. The largest renovation of the church began in 2004 and was completed in 2010. The entire roof structure and towers of the church were also renovated (Wikipedia).

A beautiful fountain in the middle of Mindelheim's market square.

The basilica is always worth a visit when you are in Ottobeuren

Popular marketplace with a number of restaurants and pubs as well as a recommendable ice cream parlor