The former Benedictine monastery of Hirsau with the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul symbolises an important piece of medieval church history. During the 11th and 12th centuries it was a very important German reform monastery. The basilica was one of the largest Romanesque churches in southwest Germany before it was destroyed by French troops in 1692 during the War of the Palatinate Succession. An eye-catcher in Hirsau Monastery is the almost thousand-year-old Romanesque Aurelius Church. As part of the Calw Monastery Summer, numerous open-air events such as concerts or the Calw Summer Cinema take place behind the monastery walls. The exciting guided tours through the ruins of the monastery of St. Peter and Paul are also very popular with tourists.
