St. Kassian

St. Kassian rises in Germany as a church shaped by more than a thousand years of building and worship. Legend places it above an ancient pagan, perhaps Roman, temple. Its earliest recorded mention dates to 885, when royal officials worshipped there beside the palace.

The oldest walls survived the great fire of 891, protected by the surrounding cemetery. A Romanesque enlargement followed in the twelfth century, before the structure became an early Gothic basilica during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A fierce storm in 1474 brought roof repairs and a western extension that established its present length.

Inside, Rococo frescoes, gilded stucco, and new altars transformed the church during the eighteenth century. The north façade still combines Rococo details with Romanesque and Gothic elements. Marian devotion made the interior a pilgrimage destination, while one fresco preserves a controversial legend about the expulsion of Jews. The church now serves the smallest parish in its diocese, cared for by canons from the Collegiate Chapter of the Old Chapel.