Kiliansgruft

Kiliansgruft lies beneath Neumünster, a collegiate church in Würzburg’s old town. The crypt marks the burial place of Kilian, Kolonat, and Totnan, three missionaries revered as the Franconian Apostles. Their martyrdom in 689 links this underground space with Würzburg’s earliest Christian history. Above it, Neumünster rises with a Baroque western façade and dome added between 1711 and 1722.

The site became a memorial after the missionaries’ deaths, and several churches followed across the centuries. Bishop Megingoz commissioned a memorial structure after 753, while Bishop Bernward added an oratory above Kilian’s grave around 990. Bishop Adalbero founded the collegiate church in 1060, and builders expanded and renewed it between about 1188 and 1250. The interior later gained Baroque furnishings, while wartime damage brought further restoration. For many centuries, pilgrims have come beneath the church to honour the three missionaries. Their resting place remains the clearest detail: a quiet chamber beneath Würzburg’s historic church, connected to a Christian story more than a thousand years old.