Lorsch Abbey World Heritage Site

The Benedictine Abbey in Lorsch, not far from Worms in South Hesse, Germany, was dissolved as a monastery back in 1557 and recognized as a World Heritage site in 1991.

A competition to enhance the scenographic and landscape architecture has been realized over large areas of the site since 2013. The core idea of the design for the restructuring and redesign of the World Heritage site is to make the place visible as a landscape space.

The entire landscape space around the historical places of interest has been opened up so that the visitor has a clear view of the monastery walls and gets an impression of the spatial scope of the site. Based on the existing network of paths, various routes through the fields are provided.

In the monastery grounds, the recognizably structured topography of the slope with well-tended and fully accessible lawn surface forms the cohesive fabric of the site. The free-standing “Torhalle” gate as the entrance to the monastery from the town has been given a paved surface surrounding it.

Lorenz Dexler, Thilo Folkerts

Landscape Architects | Landschaftsarchitekten
Topotek 1 and/und hg merz

Photo | Foto

Olfry; Studio Hanns Joosten