St. Lorenz Basilica
St. Lorenz Basilica is a baroque minor Basilica in Kempten, Bavaria, named after the Christian martyr Lawrence of Rome.
It is the former abbey church of the Benedictine Kempten Abbey. It is currently used as the parish church of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Lawrence in the Diocese of Augsburg.
A church was built on the site in the 13th Century but was burned down in 1478.
Roman Giel of Gielsberg, the Abbot of Kempten, commissioned the master builder Michael Beer from Graubünden to build a new church to serve the parish and monastery. The foundation stone of the Basilica of St. Lawrence was laid on 13 April 1652. This was one of the first large churches built in Germany after the end of the Thirty Years' War.
Michael Beer built the nave, the ground floor of the towers and the choir. He was succeeded by Johann Serro on 24 March 1654.
The church was consecrated on 12 May 1748.
In 1803 the monastery was dissolved and the church became a purely parish church.
In 1900 the twin towers were finally completed. They were built of concrete which is heavier than the used material before that time. Cracks at the connections to the main building are the result of the completed towers.
In 1969 Pope Paul VI bestowed the honorary title of basilica minor.
The building included a residence for the Prince-abbots.
