Ottobeuren Abbey, Benedictine abbey in Ottobeuren, Germany

Ottobeuren Abbey is a vast monastic complex in Bavaria comprising over 250 rooms, 20 halls, and several courtyards built in baroque style. The basilica features three successive cupolas decorated with sculptures and religious paintings, while the splendid library showcases ornate ceiling frescoes.

The monastery was founded in 764 by nobleman Silach and received imperial status in 1299. The current baroque appearance resulted from a major rebuild between 1737 and 1766 undertaken by architects Simpert Kraemer and Johann Fischer, who transformed the entire structure.

The Ottobeuren Concerts, started in 1945 on the initiative of Ernst Fritz Schmid, are held in the basilica and the Kaisersaal. The abbey's two choir organs by Karl Joseph Riepp, the four-manual Trinity organ with 47 stops and the two-manual Holy Spirit organ with 27 stops, are played in the Saturday "40 Minutes of Organ Music" series from mid-May to mid-October at 4:00 PM.

Take time to explore both the church interior and the ornate library with its painted ceilings at your own pace. On Saturdays at 4:00 PM, organ concerts take place in the basilica, offering an opportunity to hear the historical instruments in action.

The abbey was placed on the UNESCO tentative list as a World Heritage candidate from 1984 to 1993. Its library holds around 15,000 folios bound in pigskin, alongside medieval manuscripts and hundreds of incunabula. The church's north-south orientation follows the cross-shaped ground plan of the whole complex.