St. Kilianskirche Lügde

To the south of today's town of Lügde, St. Kilian's Church stands on a mountain spur in the middle of a formerly fortified cemetery. It dates back to the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne. A (predecessor) church was built here in Carolingian times, a single-nave hall building with a rectangular choir and a later northern extension. The core of this building existed until the 12th century. Around the year 1200, the church was extended and the west tower was raised. The present-day Kilianskirche, a Romanesque cruciform vaulted basilica with a high central nave and low side aisles, an east transept, a square choir and round apses in the choir and on the east walls of the transept, was built during this period. The groined vaults were designed on the model of the Benedictine monastery church at Lippoldsberg on the Weser. Charlemagne celebrated Christmas here in 784 and St. Kilian's Church has since become the town's landmark and is also one of the oldest monuments in Westphalia.