St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz

St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz (Stift St. Alban vor Mainz) originated as a Benedictine abbey, founded in 787 or 796 by Archbishop Richulf (787–813) in honour of Saint Alban of Mainz, located to the south of Mainz on the hill later called the Albansberg. It was turned into a collegiate foundation (Herrenstift) in 1442. The buildings were entirely destroyed in 1552, although the foundation retained a legal existence until its formal dissolution in 1802.

The abbey was initially renowned for its school, "famous for its teaching and its piety" (pietate doctrinaque inclinitum) and for its beautiful church. The school was the origin of the Carolingian court school. One of its famous teachers was Rabanus Maurus, born c 780 in Mainz. The importance of the place was reflected in the extraordinary size of the hall. The church was inaugurated on 1 December 805 by Richulf and remained the largest church of Mainz until construction of Mainz Cathedral was begun by Willigis.

The abbey was founded near the basilica of Saint Alban founded in 413 and developed as part of the Carolingian Renaissance.

The oldest church on the site was erected during the late Roman period and was a building with a single nave, with an area of exactly 50 by 100 Roman feet. In 805 the Carolingian basilica was consecrated, comprising three naves, but possibly originally without the transept and the two apses. At the western end was a hall the same size as the main nave, above which was a chapel of St. Michael. The two western towers, known from later illustrations, were added in the Romanesque period. The Gothic choir, erected between 1300 and 1500, was extraordinarily large. The floor plan of Schloss Johannisberg, originally built as a monastery, reflects a similar construction, because St. Alban's was its mother house.

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