Romanesque
The Alpirsbach Monastery Church (Klosterkirche) from the 12th century is an excellently preserved example of late Romanesque architecture. The church interior has a the floorplan of a Latin cross, over which a flat-roofed basilica with projecting transepts rises. In the East columns change to piers, marking the position of the missing chancel barrier that once separated the monks from the lay people. The crossing square (intersection of the nave and the transept) is a measure of the other spatial proportions.
The field above the church portal (tympanum) of the Alpirsbach Monastery Church is one of the most outstanding attestations to Romanesque building sculpture in the German Southwest. In a rigid arrangement on this stone arch Christ appears in the mandorla, carried by two angles, each with a praying figure kneeling at its side (the founder Adalbert von Zollern and his wife Adelheid von Eberstein). Stylized ornamental bands frame these figures.
Today church visitors still encounter two masterfully crafted bronze door pulls in the shape of stylized lions' heads on the main portal. These testimonials to Romanesque craftsmanship have been preserved in their original form with the exception of the ornamental rings.
Gothic
In the late Gothic period, between 1480 and 1494, the Cloister (Kreuzgang) of Alpirsbach Monastery was renewed based on the concept of a Romanesque floorplan. In the process a floor was added and it was provided with a ribbed vault adorned with splendid keystones. Elaborate tracery windows and framed portals completed the building measures. There are no remains of the original colored version (painting) in the cloister.
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In the West Building (Westbau) of the Enclosure (Klausur) lie the residential rooms and offices of the Abbot on two floors. They were appointed and painted in the late 15th century in the Gothic style. The display of splendor of these representation rooms is still reflected today in the oriel of the Abbot's Sitting Room (Abtsstube), the ceiling of which is decorated with a ribbed vault and angle-adorned keystones.
Renaissance
In the Sleeping Cells (Dormentzellen) original Renaissance painting has been preserved. Illusionary painting with perspective and plant tendrils applied to large areas can still be seen there. The monastery pupils that lived in these rooms between 1556 and 1595 "supplemented" the wall decorations with their initials, dates, sayings and "graffiti".
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Historicism
The turning towards the Middle Ages that occurred in Romantic period around 1800 affected literature, science, art and architecture. In connection with Historicism, which was based on medieval architectural styles, monument preservation also developed which not only wanted to preserve the architectural monuments, but also to "restore" them. In Alpirsbach Monastery the interior of the Monastery Church was covered with ornamental, pattern-like decorative painting during a restoration phase between 1878 and 1881. This state was obliterated again in subsequent renovations.