Backnang Abbey

Backnang’s collegiate church of St Pankratius crowns the old market square in the heart of the Swabian town. Built for Augustinian canons, it occupies the site of a 12th-century monastery founded by Margrave Herman II of Baden and his wife Judith. The present Gothic hall church dates largely from the 14th and 15th centuries, when the abbey was a favoured burial place of the Zähringen margraves. Its massive west tower still dominates the skyline, a reminder of the power the canons once wielded.

The church is worth the journey for the craftsmanship of its late-medieval masons and the stories locked in its walls. Between 1123 and 1243 the abbey sheltered the tombs of Margrave Herman V and other Zähringen rulers, a status confirmed by Pope Paschal I in 1116. Count Eberhard II of Württemberg later wrested control of its finances in 1366, and in 1477 the community became a secular collegiate chapter under Pope Sixtus IV. After the Reformation the canons briefly returned, but the last died in 1593 and the monastery closed.

Inside, visitors find a light-filled hall with ribbed vaults rising to over twelve metres. The choir stalls date from the 15th century, carved with figures of apostles and saints. The high altar carries a late-Gothic crucifix, and fragments of medieval stained glass survive in the south windows. Outside, the stepped garth behind the church offers a quiet view across the roofs of Backnang to the surrounding vineyards.