Alter Turm, Octagonal church tower in Mettlach, Germany.
The Alter Turm is an octagonal building in the center of Mettlach, in the Saarland region of Germany, with two main floors and six semicircular niches inside. Its walls are thick and its proportions compact, following the building style of the Ottonian period.
The tower was built around 989 as part of a Benedictine monastery founded in the late 7th century by Saint Liutwin, and it was intended to serve as his burial church. Over the centuries the monastery changed hands and function, but this part of the original complex survived.
The tower was arranged on two levels, with the lower floor dedicated to Saint Liutwin and the upper floor serving as a chapel for Mary. Having two separate places of worship stacked on top of each other in a single building was unusual and is still noticeable in the way the space is organized today.
The tower stands in the center of Mettlach and is easy to reach on foot from most parts of the town. It is worth checking access conditions before you go, as occasional work on the building can limit entry.
In medieval times, people brought those suffering from mental illness to the tower in the belief that the saints buried or honored there could heal them. This was not an isolated local custom but part of a broader practice found across medieval Europe.
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