Territorial Abbey of Saint-Maurice, Territorial abbey in Saint-Maurice, Switzerland

The Territorial Abbey of Saint-Maurice stands in Saint-Maurice in the canton of Valais, founded in 515 by the Burgundian king Sigismund over a shrine built around 380 by Bishop Theodore of Octodurus for the relics of Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion. A tall square grey stone tower with a steep pyramidal roof and a conical turret at each corner rises above a lower building with a weathered grey gabled roof and an arched doorway. The tower face has two arched openings with a central shaft on each of its upper two levels, three small arched niches below, and two round windows near the base.

The monastery was founded in 515 by King Sigismund of Burgundy and is one of the oldest continuously active religious institutions in the West. This long continuity makes it a notable witness to centuries of Christian history.

The abbey treasury displays medieval religious objects like golden reliquaries, liturgical vessels, and precious textiles from different periods that visitors can see today.

The abbey stands on the via Francigena pilgrim route between Geneva and the Simplon Pass, against the cliff where the Rhone leaves the Valais. Visitors enter through the courtyard of the Martolet, where the foundations of the early churches were excavated by prior Pierre Bourban and Louis Blondel. The bell tower founded by Empress Adelheid around the end of the 10th century rises above the complex.

The tower that rises above the abbey was given by Empress Adelaide at the end of the 10th century and was built on the site of the eastern choir. From the 11th century it served as the entrance to the Romanesque church. A rockfall on 3 March 1942 destroyed the tower, porch and organ; the rebuilding under Claude Jacottet lasted from 1946 to 1950.