Wechselburg Basilica

Wechselburg, Germany, Germany

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Wechselburg Basilica, or Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, in Wechselburg, Saxony, Germany, is a well-preserved late Romanesque pillar basilica built around 1160 from local Rochlitz porphyry tuff, with its eastern part consecrated in 1168 and completion likely by 1180.

Founded by Dedo III of Wettin as part of a Benedictine monastery, it features a cross-shaped plan, a striking stone gallery column, and a unique 13th-century lettner (rood screen) with a Triumph Cross group separating the choir from the nave.

The monastery dissolved during the 1543 Reformation and later became a Schönburg residence, but after restorations—including Lettner reconstruction in the 1950s–70s and Catholic reconversion in the 19th century—Pope Francis elevated it to minor basilica status in 2018, marking East Germany's first.