World heritage site and family residence, murals and light art: just 40 kilometres, but more than 1,000 years, separate the Unesco World Heritage Site Corvey in Höxter and Reelkirchen Castle near Detmold. A visit to both places is like a cultural and historical journey through time from the early Middle Ages to the here and now, from the scenes of the Odyssey right into the centre of contemporary art.
At the behest of Charlemagne, the first monastery was to be built near Corvey in what was then the land of the Saxons. However, it was only his son Louis the Pious who was able to realise this wish from 822 onwards. Between 873 and 885, the imposing westwork with its enigmatic murals of Odysseus fighting was built. The westwork is the oldest surviving building of its kind in Westphalia and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014. Directly adjacent is the former monastery building and present-day castle of the Duke of Ratibor and Corvey, who lived there, which has one of the most important private libraries in Germany. Here the full splendour is revealed. Valuable murals and portraits of 20 German emperors can be found in the splendid Imperial Hall and in the historic state rooms and living rooms of the princely owners of the 18th and 19th centuries. The neighbouring Remtergarten, where roses and rare perennials, fruit, vegetables and medicinal herbs grow as they did in the time of the monks, is part of the Huxarium Garden Park Höxter.
