9 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

In Fraueninsel in Lake Chiemsee: Romanesque a central building hidden underground for 1,000 years discovered

On Fraueninsel, an island in Germany’s Lake Chiemsee, archaeologists discovered a cult site that may have been slumbering underground for 1,000 years while searching for the remains of a 600-year-old church destroyed in the early 1800s.

Fraueninsel Island in Lake Chiemsee is one of the smallest communities in Bavaria and the other two Chiemsee islands Krautinsel and Herrenchiemsee.

The discovery of the foundation of a 600-year-old church marked and was noteworthy in and of itself. However, when the radar technology descended 20 to 40 inches below this artifact from the Middle Ages, it revealed something even more remarkable. An older, eight-sided Romanesque building stood there, a rare example of Bavarian architecture and a sign of a hugely significant discovery.

Perhaps the history of Frauenwörth Abbey on Fraueninsel in Chiemsee now needs to be rewritten. The building development was probably carried out by Duke Tassilo III. The monastery, founded around 782, is considered well-researched, but relatively little is known about the rest of the island. Until now!

 Now, during ground radar measurements, a team from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD) unexpectedly came across the foundations of a central building that had not previously been recorded, neither in writings nor on historical maps.

Fraueninsel, Romanesque ground plan, aerial view and visualisation of the central building. Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD)
Fraueninsel, Romanesque ground plan, aerial view and visualisation of the central building. Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD)

“In the area of the find was the church of St Martin, which belonged to the monastery and was first documented in 1393. It was located on the highest point of the island and was demolished in 1803 in the course of secularisation. But the fact that there was an older predecessor building is also a big surprise for us,” said Armin Krämmer, mayor of the municipality of Chiemsee.

To pinpoint the exact location of the demolished hall church, measurements were taken on the village green north of the well-known Tassilo lime tree in the summer of 2023 as part of investigations for a municipal monument concept (KDK). At a depth of 50 to 70 centimeters, the monument conservators came across foundations whose ground plan corresponds to the view of the church on the engraving by Michael Wening published in 1701.

However, the radar data also showed that there had been an older building on this site: At a depth of 80 to 100 centimeters, further foundation walls emerged completely unexpectedly but very clearly, revealing an octagonal central building with a gallery formed by eight pillars and four annexes arranged in a cross shape. Overall, the building has an impressive diameter of 19 meters.

“Central buildings are rare in pre-Romanesque and Romanesque sacred architecture north of the Alps and are therefore a very individualized form of construction, which is often interpreted as a successor to the Palatine Chapel in Aachen or as an imitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In Bavaria, octagonal central buildings with an inner portico have so far only been archaeologically proven with St. Andreas in Bamberg, around 1050, and St. Gallus in Würzburg, around 1130. So we are talking about an absolute rarity here,” says Mathias Pfeil, General Conservator, Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.

Radar measurement of the preserved foundation walls of the central building. Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD)
Radar measurement of the preserved foundation walls of the central building. Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD)

But how can this find be categorized historically? There may be a connection with the veneration of Blessed Irmengard, daughter of King Louis the German and great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. She was abbess of the Frauenwörth convent, which had risen to become an imperial monastery, and was buried in the abbey church in 866. Between 1001 and 1020, her tomb was opened for the removal of relics to promote her veneration. At the same time, a fundamentally new monastery building was erected, of which the gate hall, the early Romanesque abbey church and the bell tower are still preserved today.

 The additional memorial building, which was intended to serve as a destination for pilgrims in the style of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, was perhaps built in this context. It is now up to scientists to evaluate and carefully analyze the latest data to provide answers to the many unanswered questions. The idea of visualizing the ground plan next summer in the form of a planting and thus making it possible to experience it is currently being considered.

“Bavaria’s rich cultural heritage is always good for a surprise – as the sensational discovery in Chiemgau proves once again! The foundation walls discovered during radar measurements on the Fraueninsel show that nothing really escapes the expert eyes of our monument conservators. Such a ground plan of a Romanesque central building is an absolute rarity north of the Alps. It therefore remains exciting to see how scientists will classify this find historically,” emphasizes Bavaria’s Art Minister Markus Blume (CSU).

Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD)

Related Articles

A hungry Badger uncovers the largest collection of such coins ever discovered in northern Spain

11 January 2022

11 January 2022

Archaeologists have uncovered a rich trove of 209 Roman-era coins in northwestern Spain, due to the apparent efforts of a...

A tiny 2,300-year-old votive vessel presented to the gods by the poor was found in the Ancient City of Troy

27 August 2022

27 August 2022

A 3-centimeter in size tiny vessel made of clay was found in the ancient city of Troy located at Hisarlik...

The Iremir Mound illuminates the pre-Urartian period in East Van

27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Archaeological findings unearthed in the excavations carried out at the İremir Mound in the Gürpınar district of Van, in eastern...

Researchers Say that Neanderthals Had the Same Hearing Capacity as Humans

1 March 2021

1 March 2021

Virtual reconstructions of Neanderthal ears show that had the same physical capacity for hearing as modern humans, and by inference...

In Pontefract, archaeologists have discovered Neolithic remains

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Archaeologists working on the site of the former Carleton Furniture factory at Mill Dam Lane in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England,...

Remarkable Roman Villa Full of Strange Artifacts Discovered from a Bronze Age Site in England

3 April 2024

3 April 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered a “richly decorated” remarkable Roman villa complex during excavations at Brookside Meadows in Grove, a village in...

A Baptismal Surprise: Triton Baths in Southeastern Rome Converted into Early Christian Church

7 May 2025

7 May 2025

Recent archaeological excavations within the monumental complex of the Villa di Sette Bassi, situated in the southeastern outskirts of Rome,...

Sensational find in Ephesus: more than 1,400-year-old district discovered

29 October 2022

29 October 2022

During this year’s excavations at Ephesus in Turkey, archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AW) discovered an incredibly well-preserved...

Vindolanda marks the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall with an altar discovery

9 February 2022

9 February 2022

The excavation season hasn’t started yet, but the Vindolanda Roman fort has kicked off Hadrian’s Wall’s 1900th anniversary year with...

Do Byzantine coins Record the Supernova of 1054?

25 June 2022

25 June 2022

SN 1054 was one of the most spectacular astronomical events of all time. The supernova explosion eventually formed what is...

The biblical narrative of Sodom may have been inspired by a cosmic meteorite that devastated an ancient city

21 September 2021

21 September 2021

The Bible account of Sodom’s destruction lies at the heart of classic “fire and brimstone” judgment day prophesies. But what...

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of giant rhino

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Paleontologists studying in China have found a new species of gigantic rhinoceros, the world’s biggest land animal. According to a...

Jordan’s mysterious ancient wall “Khatt Shebib”

22 October 2022

22 October 2022

The accomplishments of ancient civilizations are typically woefully underappreciated because we stereotype them as primitives who only wore loincloths, and...

5000-year-old female figurines found in a Ukrainian cave

15 May 2023

15 May 2023

Archaeologists discovered five clay female figurines hidden inside a hole in a wall in Verteba Cave, in the Borshchiv Region...

Teacher unearthed stone with ancient ogham writing from Ireland in Coventry garden

9 May 2024

9 May 2024

A geography teacher, Graham Senior, stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions while tidying his overgrown garden in Coventry, England. ...