Campus Galli, Medieval monastery construction site in Messkirch, Germany.
Campus Galli is a monastery construction site near Messkirch in southern Baden-Württemberg, where craftspeople build a Carolingian-style monastery without modern machinery, using only tools and techniques from the ninth century. The site includes workshops, wooden building frames, barns, and paths that wind through open work areas where visitors can watch progress unfold.
Construction began in 2013 and follows the Plan of Saint Gall, an architectural drawing from the early ninth century that survives as the only complete monastery layout from the Carolingian period. The plan dates to the time of Charlemagne and shows the ideal layout for a Benedictine monastery.
Craftspeople wearing period garments work in dedicated workshops for woodwork, metalwork and pottery, showing visitors the rhythm of medieval labor and explaining the tools of the time. Visitors can speak with the workers and watch how materials from the nearby forest are shaped using traditional methods.
The site opens from April through October, and a full visit takes around two to three hours since the grounds are spread out and include many open areas. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes as the paths can be uneven and sandy, and in rainy weather some sections may become muddy.
The project is expected to take around 40 years to complete and uses no blueprints or precise plans, only the original drawing, meaning that solutions often emerge through trial and adjustment of medieval techniques. The site also functions as a research project where archaeologists and historians document the results and gain new insights into medieval construction.
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