Andlau Abbey (''Abbaye d'Andlau'') was a women's collegiate foundation for secular canonesses located at Andlau in Alsace, eastern France.

History

Andlau Abbey was founded in or about 880 by Richardis, later Saint Richardis, empress of Charles the Fat, on her ancestral lands. The foundation legend states that the abbey was sited where Richardis saw a she-bear scratching at the soil; a bear is one of her emblems in reference to this. In 887 Richardis was put to the ordeal by fire by her husband on the pretext of adultery with the chancellor

Liutward Liutward was the archchancellor of the Carolingian Empire from 878 and the bishop of Vercelli from 880 by appointment of Charles the Fat. Never liked by the nobility, he was trusted by Charles as a confidant and go-between with the papacy. In 887 ...

. She survived the ordeal successfully and withdrew to Andlau, where at the time her niece Rotrod was abbess. She died here in about 895 and was buried in the abbey church. The abbey survived the Reformation, thanks to the efforts of the Abbess Rebstock, who is commemorated in the present church, but not the French Revolution.

Buildings

A number of the monastic buildings are still extant. In particular, the former abbey church survives as the parish church of

Saints Peter In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

and Paul. The original buildings were from around 880. The abbey was entirely rebuilt in the first half of the 11th century. When Pope Leo XI passed through Andlau in November of that year he was able to translate the remains of the canonised Richardis from the old church to the new Romanesque one. Nothing remains of the first buildings (except for a hole in the floor of the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

said to have been made by the she-bear). The crypt itself dates from the 11th century. Another major re-construction took place in the 12th century after a serious fire, and another in the 15th century. The nave was completely rebuilt in the late 17th century. The present tomb of Saint Richardis dates from 1350, and is sited in a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

chapel of 1707. The church is however most notable for its rich sculptural decoration, by the

Master of Andlau The Master of Andlau (french: Maître d'Andlau) is the notname given to an Alsatian Romanesque sculptor and his workshop, active in the middle of the 12th century. The Master's name derives from the relief sculptures of the main portal and the fr ...

, which is among the finest in Alsace. It is located on the ''

Route Romane d'Alsace The Route Romane d'Alsace (Romanesque Road of Alsace) is a tourist itinerary designed by the Association Voix et Route Romane to link both the well-known and the more secret examples of Romanesque architecture of Alsace, in an itinerary of 19 st ...

''.

Burials

*Saint Richardis

Sources

Andlau website: the Abbey
{{Authority control Churches in Bas-Rhin 9th-century establishments in France 18th-century disestablishments in France Former Christian monasteries in France Christian monasteries established in the 9th century Romanesque architecture in France Christian monasteries in Bas-Rhin 9th-century churches in France Religious buildings and structures completed in 880