Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

The church of Diessen is named after Saint Willibrord, an English Benedictine monk. Around 712, he donated a number of properties, including properties in Diessen, to the abbey of Echternach. At that time, Willibrord also built a well in the village for baptism. A 16th-century replica can still be seen next to the church, which has undergone several transformations over time. In 1161, the church consisted of a chapel made of wood and straw. In order to manage the properties donated by Willibrord, the abbot of Echternach had appointed a guardian or advocate in various places, who also exercised a form of worldly authority in the area assigned to him. The Benedictines of Echternach were also involved in pastoral care in Diessen.

A church was already mentioned in Berkel in 1214. It is known that the building was renovated in 1440. In 1983, large foundations of that church were exposed in, among other places, the garage of the rectory.

Built by Pierre Cuypers (1827 - 1921) while retaining the 15th century tower of the former church, in 1890 this architect clad it, raised it and provided it with a staircase tower. The church consists of a nave of five bays, covered by a pointed wooden barrel vault and a choir with 5/8 closure and brick cross-ribbed vaults. Tower 15th century.

The Roman Catholic St. Willibrordus Church was built in 1913-1914 to a design by Wolter te Riele (1867 - 1937) from Deventer and executed by contractor A. de Boer from Coevorden. The building is constructed in a simple neo-Gothic style. The interior paintings applied in 1925 by Fa. Cuypers from Roermond have disappeared. The interior is not protected.

The church building dates from 1941, which was of course a strange time to build a church. On the other hand, it was not yet known at that time whether the German occupation would be permanent.

This church is listed as a National Monument of the Netherlands.

Heiligen-Geist-Kirche is located in Barmstedt, a town in Schleswig-Holstein about 20 miles north-west of Hamburg.

Heiligengrabe Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey which was founded at the end of the 13th century. The first buildings to be constructed were the abbey church and the eastern wing of the cloister; the latter contains the chapter house on the ground floor and the sisters' dormitory on the ground floor. The other two wings are from slightly later periods. In 1510, the cloister was vaulted; the chapter house was moved to the west wing. When the Reformation was adopted, the monastery went through a period of conflict; finally, in 1549, the entire community was transferred to the Lutheran church.

Heiligenkreuz Abbey (Stift Heiligenkreuz) is a Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna Woods. Founded in 1133, it is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery in the world. With more than 270,000 volumes, the monastery library is the largest private library in Austria. At the heart of the library is the medieval collection of 1250 manuscripts and 860 incunabula. Today, the monastery library is an institution of knowledge and a partner of various regional and even international research centres.

The Heiligkreuz church was built in 1804 and restored in 1976. The tower stands at the head of the choir and has flat arched windows and an octagonal transition to the onion dome. The gabled façade has a scrolled gable above a continuous main cornice. The three-bay nave is followed by a slightly indented basket-arched choir. Ludwig Sturm painted the vault in 1936.