Hirsau, located in a lovely Black Forest valley once was home to the largest and most important monastery in Germany. The first monastery here - the Aurelius monastery - was created in the 9th century already. But after a short while this monastery became too small to accommodate all the incoming monks. Therefore, between 1082 and 1091, St. Peter and Paul, the largest German monastery was constructed by Judit of Baden. Its basilica was almost 100 meters long! It became the largest romanesque ecclesiastical structure in Germany! In 1556, after the Reformation in Germany, St. Peter and Paul monastery became a Protestant convent school. Between 1586 and 1592 the Dukes of Wurttemberg commissioned the construction of a Renaissance castle. But the whole complex was set on fire on 20 September 1692 by French general M?lac in
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