Basilique Saint-Willibrord (Basílica de São Willibrord)

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About Basilique Saint-Willibrord (Basílica de São Willibrord)

The basílica de São Willibrord is at the heart of Echternach's history. Willibrord, a monk born in Northumbria, England, was the missionary who evangelized Frisia and the Low Countries and the first bishop of Utrecht. In 698 he founded the abadia de Echternach, where he died in 739 and was buried. The abadia became a center of pilgrimage and of manuscript illumination.

The present church follows the plan of the 11th-century Romanesque basilica, with two towers on the façade and three naves. In December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, it was almost completely destroyed by explosions and was rebuilt after the war, being reconsecrated in 1953. The stained glass and much of the decoration date from that reconstruction.

In the older crypt is the tomb of São Willibrord, in a white marble sarcophagus, and remains of medieval wall paintings. It is the destination of the dancing procession, which takes place every year on Whit Tuesday and is inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage.

Beside the basilica are the abadia buildings, rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th century and today occupied by a school, with the courtyard and garden open. In the abadia's basement is the abadia museum, which tells the history of the monastery and shows reproductions of the illuminated manuscripts produced there, such as the Codex Aureus de Echternach.