Höxter (dpa / lnw) – On the anniversary of the founding of the Corvey Monastery, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier recalled the eventful history of the World Heritage Site in East Westphalia on Sunday. “1,200 years of Corvey Monastery’s history reflects 1,200 years of German and European history, with all its ups and downs. When we hear the name Corvey, we think of the peak of monastic culture in north-western Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries,” said Steinmeier at a ceremony. The Federal President, who grew up in the district of Lippe in the vicinity of Höxter, also recalled Hoffmann von Fallersleben in his speech.
From 1860 until his death he worked as a librarian in Corvey and in 1841 he wrote the song of the Germans on the island of Helgoland, the third stanza of which is sung as the national anthem.
The former monastery of Corvey in the Weser bend on the state border of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 2014. The westwork of the complex is part of the parish church of St. Stephen and Vitus, which belongs to the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The complex was founded by Benedictines in the time of Charlemagne. In addition to the buildings and the Princely Library from the 19th century, the World Heritage Site also includes unique archaeological finds from the Carolingian period.
“The cultural and intellectual history manuscripts produced in Corvey were among the masterpieces of Carolingian book art and thus contributed to Corvey’s outstanding reputation in Europe,” recalled the Federal President of the art of the monks. Today, in times of war and crises, of changes and uncertainty, Corvey is a place that is being preserved and cared for and therefore creates a feeling of togetherness that “our society needs so urgently today”.
