Former Benedictine Monastery Church of St. Martin and St. Mary (Sponheim)

The monastery founded by Count Stephan in 1101 was consecrated in 1123 and occupied by twelve monks from the Benedictine abbeys of St. Alban and St. Jacob near Mainz in 1124. The bailiwick of the monastery remained with the Counts of Sponheim. In connection with the Sponheim Monastery, the place Sponheim was first mentioned in a document in 1224.

The former monastery church and today's Catholic parish church “St. Maria "and" St. Martin “has a Greek cross as a floor plan, which was probably created by chance because the planned nave was never completely completed. The church structure dates from the High Romanesque period in the 12th century and was given its present form in the 13th century.

The choir, the transept with the apses and the pillars with the corresponding pointed arches of the crossing are Romanesque. The renovations carried out in the 13th century include the nave with the attached chapel, the vault and the crossing tower. The tiled floor in the choir and in the side absiden also dates from the 13th century, as well as an eagle relief and a lion head on the southern outer wall. In the course of more recent restorations, parts of older wall paintings have been exposed on the inner walls.

From the rich interior of the monastery only a few grave slabs and the sacrament shrine from 1487 in the choir wall remain. The other pieces are almost all from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Source: sponheim.de/tourismus/kloster

Hunsbuckel has already described the church in great detail.
Extra tip: There is a pilgrim's box in the rear area.
Everything a pilgrim needs can be found here.
From pilgrim stamps to blister plasters and sun spray to handkerchiefs and contemplative brochures.

The former Benedictine monastery church is one of the most important cultural monuments in the Nahe region.
Monastery of St. Martin and Maria (Sponheim) here more:
klosterlexikon-rlp.de/hunsrueck-naheland/sponheim-kloster-st-martin-und-maria.html