Description:
Brauweiler Abbey was founded in 1024 as a monastery by Countess Palatine Mathilde, the daughter of Otto II and the Empress Theophana. The oldest part of the Abbey dates back to 1190, the most recent was completed in 1786. The abbey was dissolved by Napoleon's troops in 1803. The church became a parish church, while the other buildings were tumed into a beggars' refuge in 1809 and later into a werkhouse and a Gestapo prison. From 1969 to 1978 it was used as a psychiatric hospital. From 1981 to 1988 the buildings were restored and extended for use by various cultural departments of the Landschaftsverband Rhcinland. All the necessary work was carried out with strict historical accuracy, bearing in mind current regulations regardiog load-carrying capacity, thermic protection and fire prevention.