Maria Laach Abbey

The abbey was founded in 1093 and its church, built over the following century and a half in dark tufa and pale stone, keeps six towers and a western forecourt called a paradise, an arcaded court rare north of the Alps. Benedictines returned in 1892 and still live here, running a nursery, a bookshop, a metal workshop and a farm. The Laacher See beside it is a caldera lake formed by an eruption around thirteen thousand years ago that spread ash across central Europe; carbon dioxide still bubbles up through the water at the southeastern shore, visible as mofettes, showing the volcanic system beneath is not extinct.

What you actually see

• The six towers - a Romanesque church in dark tufa with a west forecourt.
• The paradise court - an arcaded western courtyard, rare in Germany.
• The mofettes - carbon dioxide bubbling through the lake shallows.
• The caldera lake - a crater from an eruption about thirteen thousand years ago.

When to go

April to October; the church closes during services and monastic offices, which are sung through the day and open to visitors. The lake path takes about two hours.

Honest expectations

It is a working monastery with services interrupting access. Parking is paid. The site is busy with coach groups and day visitors on fine weekends.

Nearby

Andernach and its geyser lie east; the Eifel maars are west.