St. Kilian's Church

To the south of today's city of Lügde stands the St. Kilian's Church on a mountain spur in the middle of a formerly fortified cemetery. She points back to the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne. In Carolingian times, a (predecessor) church was built here, a single-nave hall building with a rectangular choir and a later northern extension. This building existed in the core until the 12th century.

Around the year 1200 the church was extended and the west tower was raised. Today's Kilian's Church, a Romanesque cruciform vaulted basilica with a high central nave and low side aisles, an east transept, a choir square and round absiden in the choir as on the east walls of the transept, was built during this time. The groin vaults were designed on the basis of the Benedictine monastery church in Lippoldsberg on the Weser.

Charlemagne celebrated Christmas here in 784 and the St. Kilian's Church is now the city's landmark and is also one of the oldest monuments in Westphalia.