UNESCO World Heritage

On June 20, at its 2014 meeting in Doha, Qatar, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Committee added the Imperial Abbey of Corvey, located on the banks of the Weser River in north-central Germany, to its global sites of cultural or physical significance. 


Built between 822 and 885 A.D. by French Benedictine monks under the auspices of Franconian Emperor Charlemagne and later, his son Louis The Pious, the Abbey of Corvey became an important cultural and political outpost in the Carolingian empire. Corvey’s Westwork, the west-facing abbey entrance with its two spired towers, watches over the bucolic scenery along the Weser river, displaying the intricate brick and stone architecture of the era, a northern European building style referencing Roman architecture, with few remaining examples.