The abbey of Echternach was founded by St. Willibrord in 698 AD. As bishop, he directed the monastery as abbot until his death in 739. Between 659 and 971 the monks were displaced by secular canons of the bishop of Trier. The original buildings were destroyed by a large fire, but the Romanesque basilica (completed in 1031, rebuilt around 1250) still houses Willibrord’s tomb in its crypt. In 1737 the basilica was rebuilt in Baroque style. The Abbey itself was closed in 1897 during the French Revolution and the confiscated works were sold and scattered throughout Europe.The abbey was then converted into a porcelain manufacture and only was restored to a church in 1861.The Benedictine Abbey of Echternach, maintained a famous scriptorium, a workshop which brought forth an impressive array of manuscripts and illuminated texts .Some of the library’s early manuscripts are today found in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris the ‘Golden Bible’ (Codex Aureus Epternacensis) today is housed in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the Codex Aureus Escorialensis is exhibited in the Escorial near Madrid. Today the abbey museum is located in the vaulted cellars of the abbatial palace and exhibits facsimiles of most impressive manuscripts created in Echternach. The museum also presents an overview over the life and work of Willibrord.