seligenstadt abbey's courtyard.
seligenstadt is a small city not far away from frankfurt and also bordering the state of bavaria via main river. it's mainly known for its basilica st. marcellinus & petrus and the abbey facilities. the benedictine abbey was originally founded in 815 by einhard, a dedicated servant to charles the great. what you see now isn't the original set-up, though, the abbey & church were rebuilt & renovated after the thirty-years-war and presented itself as a baroque monument after that, though there are still romanesque details you can find throughout the complex. another thing that needs to be mentioned is the abbey's garden, which is a magnificient example of a typical monkish apothecary garden. you can find heaps of medicinal herbs & poison plants, amongst fruit trees & kitchen ingredients. unfortunately we visited during a time where gardens generally don't have a lot to offer, nature was still half asleep and only in the early beginnings of growth. peach plants were showing its first buds, though, and various poisonous plants were in full bloom already. it was really interesting to see such an apothecary garden up close, especially how it was sectioned into various treatment fields. if i ever possess a garden i would definitely try to create some kind of apothecary garden, it's such a cool concept.
seligenstadt itself is a cute & quaint little town with lots of medieval streets which were perfect for a stroll. my mother and i were spending our time alone there, as my dad stayed in wiesbaden because of feeling sick. it was nice to spend some time with her ( even though i really dislike having to stop at every little shop she encounters - and spending about half an hour inside :P ). after we looked at the abbey & church we took a short walk along the main river & marvelled at the charming old town of seligenstadt. there was also coffee & cake involved somewhere in there ( which my mom and i both love - it would've been a shame if we hadn't sat down in a cafe somewhere and missed devouring something delicious ).
we were greeted by high-breasted white doves!
entering the garden.
garden bed for things to do with prostate problems. i know, there's not a lot to see here, things just were starting to grow.
most of the fruit trees were cut in a most peculiar way, some in trellis others in dwarf forms. i like the looks of those crops a lot.
i really liked the view from the garden onto the abbey buildings & the church. it's really distinctive & prominent.
wall fruit trees.
apricot hungarian best against concrete wall.
the blossoms really popped against the wall.
the weather was especially nice to us that day and everything looked absolutely pretty.
modern addition: adam & eve by stephan balkenhol.
while not fully romanesque anymore, the church still feels like it. 
snowdrops and what i believe is either garden arabis or early squill. either way, it was a soft carpet of beautiful white flowers ;)
some putti were dispersed all over the garden, many of them depicting gardening activities.
the prelature was also decorated with wall fruit.
the former depot now houses a little shop.
look back to the engelsgärtchen ( angel garden ) & prelature and old abbey.
soon we left the abbey grounds to step into the streets of old seligenstadt. here's the front of the basilica.
prepare yourself for lots of timber-frame houses!
but first, another picture of the church. the neo-romanesque facade to be exact with one of the two martyr sculptures in front of it, depicting petrus.
more eye candy 😍
petrus from behind.
& a close-up. i really adored the decorative elements chiseled into the stone. so ornate & artful!
the altar area inside the church. a lot of romanesque churches are filled with lots of light, completely different to gothic buildings who worked with light as well, but used the darkness to achieve the most dramatic effect. romanesque churches are much brighter & more open, maybe even a little more welcoming for most people. of course, over the centuries churches never stayed the way they were built, so of course additions from other eras start to show up. like gothic or baroque elements ( which you can see here very well ).
loved this particular corner of the altar. so atmospheric.
even though there are no large windows in the church, it still feels so much lighter. maybe because it isn't so overburdened with decorative elements.
the back of the church ( or should i say, the entrance? what is the back of a church anyway? to me, a church never has a 'beginning' or 'end'. it's just a total work of architecture. )
leaving the church again and bumping into another sculpture.
mom roaming around in tiny alleyways.
passing by the hotel mainchateau.
in old timber-framed cities you can always find the cutest nooks & crannies. there's something so cozy about them & decorating feels so natural.
i will always be enamoured with the patterns 😍
long time no cat! but in seligenstadt a yellow-eyed beauty said hello to me 💛she was emerging out of the hole inside the wall, but immediately fled back when a dog passed by and barked at her.
found some strange tiles. alien sighting? i do love this, though.
old & modern architecture complimenting each other.
timber-framed splendour. i cannot get enough of such a sight. it's just so visually pleasing.
some art i found randomly & liked.
oooh, overgrown ruins! love stumbling over such dwellings.
the powder tower next to the main river. you can often find these towers in old cities, as they stored ammunition & gun powder for defense purposes.
main river. i actually haven't seen a lot of the main river, and always thought that it's not a river worth seeing, but apparently i am wrong. i haven't been to a lot of destinations near the river and i think i should actually remedy that. ( fact is: the main river isn't very beautiful around frankfurt, but it seems very charming if you follow it back to its beginnings in the state of bavaria. ) in seligenstadt the river bed looked really natural and not as canalized as in frankfurt. much more to my liking!
steinheimer tor ( steinheim gate ).
this entry was glorious. i like how it is not polished, but rather in slight disrepair.
timber frames over timber frames.
we passed by the steinerne haus ( lithic house ) or romanesque house ( as its officially called ). it's the oldest profane building in seligenstadt ( built in 1186 ) and was used as a bailiwick. finding romanesque architecture always feels so surprising, especially because it is SO OLD. and because i really dig how it looks. so minimal, yet so striking & powerful.
can i move right in? this is such a BEAUTIFUL house 💖
the market plaza with city hall. this building is so out of the ordinary, it's neo-classical facade being really untypical for the whole area.
last picture is of this interesting timber-framed house with window fill-ins instead of clay walls.
we soon said good-bye to seligenstadt, but promised to be back in the future, maybe together with my dad, who missed out on a really striking city. i hope our return will be in a much warmer season maybe, because i absolutely want to see the apothecary garden in lush colours!
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