Alter Turm, Mettlach

The Old Tower in Mettlach is the oldest surviving sacred building and also the oldest surviving upright medieval structure in the Saarland. It is the last surviving remnant of the Mettlach Abbey Church of St. Peter and Mary, which was demolished in 1819. The "Old Tower" is therefore one of the landmarks of the Saarland of national rank. The structure was built around the years 990 to 994 by the then Irish abbot Lioffin as an Ottonian burial chapel of St. Lutwinus, who had founded the monastery of St. Peter and Mary in Mettlach around the year 675. The "Old Tower " is one of the most important achievements of German art in terms of art history. It is one of the few preserved Ottonian central buildings as well as an architectural achievement of the European Middle Ages of high rank.