Reichenau Abbey

Reichenau Island

Aerial view of Reichenau Island
Reichenau, shown with Konstanz and Bodensee Kreise of Germany (yellow) and Thurgau canton of Switzerland (green)
Geography
Location	Lake Constance
Coordinates	47°42′N 9°4′E / 47.700°N 9.067°E / 47.700; 9.067Coordinates: 47°42′N 9°4′E / 47.700°N 9.067°E / 47.700; 9.067
Area	4.3 km2 (1.7 sq mi)
Administration
Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
District	Freiburg
Additional information
Official website	www.reichenau.de
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Monastic Island of Reichenau
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv, vi
Designated	2000 (24th session)
Reference no.	974
Region	Europe and North America

Imperial Abbey of Reichenau
Reichskloster Reichenau
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
? – 1540 or 1548
Coat of arms
Capital		Reichenau Abbey
Government		Theocracy
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Founded	724
•	Gained Reichsfreiheit	Unknown Enter start year
•	Reichsfreiheit lost to     Bishopric of Constance	1540 or 1548 1540s
•	Secularised to     Württemberg	1757–1803
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Swabia Bishopric of Constance
Today part of		Germany

Reichenau Island is an island in Lake Constance in southern Germany. It lies almost due west of the city of Konstanz, between the Gnadensee and the Untersee, two parts of Lake Constance. With a total land surface of 4.3 square kilometres and a circumference of 11 kilometres, the island is 4.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide at its greatest extent. The highest point, the Hochwart, stands some 43 metres above the lake surface and 438.7 metres above mean sea level.

Reichenau is connected to the mainland by a causeway, completed in 1838, which is intersected between the ruins of Schopflen Castle and the eastern end of Reichenau Island by a 10-metre-wide and 95-metre long waterway, the Bruckgraben. A low road bridge allows the passage of ordinary boats but not of sailing-boats.

The island was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000 because of its monastery, the Abbey of Reichenau. The abbey's Münster (minster church) is dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Mark. Two further churches were built on the island consecrated to Saint George and to Saints Peter and Paul. The famous artworks of Reichenau include (in the church of St George) the Ottonian murals of miracles of Christ, unique survivals from the 10th century. The abbey's bailiff was housed in a two-storey stone building to which two more storeys of timber framing were added in the 14th century, one of the oldest timber-frame buildings in south Germany.

Among the Abbey's far-flung landholdings was Reichenau, a village on the upper Rhine in the municipality of Tamins in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, named for the Abbey.