Echternach

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Echternach

Echternach is a commune

Communes of Luxembourg

The communes of Luxembourg are the lowest nation-wide administrative division in Luxembourg. They conform to Local administrative unit level 2....
with city status

List of cities in Luxembourg

IM A DIMMWITT There are twelve cities in Luxembourg, as defined by statute. Despite the status as city, they are not coherent Urban area....
in the canton of Echternach

Echternach (canton)

Echternach is a cantons of Luxembourg in the east of Luxembourg, in the Grevenmacher . The capital is Echternach.The canton consists of the following eight communes:...
, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher

Grevenmacher (district)

The District of Grevenmacher is one of three districts of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It contains 3 Cantons_of_Luxembourg divided into 26 Communes of Luxembourg:...
, in eastern Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany....
. Echternach lies near the border with Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, and is the oldest town (current population 4,610) in Luxembourg.

It grew around the walls of the Abbey of Echternach

Abbey of Echternach

The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the city of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The Abbey was founded by Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg, in the seventh century....
, which was founded in 698 by St. Willibrord

Willibrord

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands province of Utrecht . It is located in the North-Eastern end of the Randstad, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands, with a population of 300,030....
and worked to Christianize the Frisia

Frisia

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Encyclopedia

Echternach is a commune

Communes of Luxembourg

The communes of Luxembourg are the lowest nation-wide administrative division in Luxembourg. They conform to Local administrative unit level 2....
with city status

List of cities in Luxembourg

IM A DIMMWITT There are twelve cities in Luxembourg, as defined by statute. Despite the status as city, they are not coherent Urban area....
in the canton of Echternach

Echternach (canton)

Grevenmacher (district)

The District of Grevenmacher is one of three districts of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It contains 3 Cantons_of_Luxembourg divided into 26 Communes of Luxembourg:...
, in eastern Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Germany

It grew around the walls of the Abbey of Echternach

Abbey of Echternach

Willibrord

Utrecht (city)

Frisia

Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian languages, a language group closely related to the English language....
ns. As bishop, he directed the monastery as abbot until his death in 739. It is in his honour that the dancing procession

Dancing procession of Echternach

The dancing procession of Echternach is an annual Roman Catholic dancing procession held at Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach's is the last traditional dancing procession in Europe....
takes place annually on Whit Tuesday

Whit Tuesday

Whit Tuesday is the Christian holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost Monday, the third day of the week beginning on Pentecost. Pentecost is a movable feast in the Christian calendar, being dependent upon the date of Easter....
.

The River Sauer

Sauer

The Sauer or S?re is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the river Moselle River, its total length is 173 km....
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

Willibrord

Adela and Irmina

Saint Adela and Saint Irmina were daughters of Dagobert II. Dagobert acceded to the throne of Austrasia at the age of seven, upon the death of Sigebert, but was quickly deposed....
(Irmine), daughter of Dagobert II

Dagobert II

Dagobert II was the List of Frankish Kings , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. He was the last of the Merovingian dynasty to rule independently in Austrasia, with the exception of Charles Martel's dubious candidate Clotaire IV....
, king of the Franks. Other parts of the Merovingian's Roman inheritance were presented to the Abbey by Pepin

Pippin the Younger

Pepin or Pippin , called the Short, and often known as Pepin the Younger or Pepin III, was the Mayor of the Palace and Duke of the Franks from 741 and King of the Franks from 751 to 768....
.

Echternach continued to have royal patronage from the house of Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was List of Frankish kings from 768 to his death. He expanded the Franks kingdoms into a Carolingian Empire that incorporated much of Western Europe and Central Europe....
. 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

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
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

Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
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 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
. A porcelain factory was established in the abbey, and the town declined, until the railroad brought tourists.

There are two churches at Echternach. The larger is the Abbey's basilica of St Willibrord

Willibrord

Saint Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg....
, now surrounded by the eighteenth-century abbey (now a school) in the town's historical and cultural centre. The other is the parish church of St Peter and Paul.

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.

Echternach

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