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Echternach, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
John Watter
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Echternach is a town and a commune in the canton of Echternach, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher, in Luxembourg. Echternach lies near the eastern border with Germany, and is the oldest town (current population 4610) in Luxembourg.
The River Sauer that flows past the town now forms the border between Luxembourg and Germany, but in the later Roman Empire and under the Merovingians this was not a marcher land at all. The Roman villa at Echternach (traces of it were rediscovered in 1975) which was part of the see of Trier (now in Germany) was presented to Willibrord by Irmina (Irmine), daughter of Dagobert II, king of the Franks. Other parts of the Merovingian's Roman inheritance were presented to the Abbey by Pepin.
There are two churches at Echternach. the larger is the Abbey's basilica of St Willibrord (now a school), now surrounded by the 18th Century abbey in the town's historical and cultural centre. The other is the parish church of St Peter and Paul.
Echternach continued to have royal patronage from the house of Charlemagne. Though the monks were displaced by secular canons of the bishop of Trier, 859 - 971, and though Willibrord's buildings burned down in 1017, the Romanesque basilica with symmetrical towers (illustration, above right) still houses his tomb in its crypt. As the abbey, with a famous library and scriptorium flourished, the town of Echternach formed around the abbey's outer walls and was granted a city charter in 1236. The abbey was rebuilt in a handsome Baroque range in 1737. The monks were dispersed in 1797, and the abbey's contents and its famous library were auctioned off. Some of the library's early manuscripts are at the Bibliothčque Nationale, Paris. A porcelain factory was established in the abbey, and the town declined, until the railroad brought tourists.
The picturesque town, still surrounded by its medieval walls with towers, was badly damaged in World War II and has been thoroughly restored; it has been the site of a May and June International Music Festival since 1975.
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