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The star attraction of the Lower Allgau is the small health resort of OTTOBEUREN , or more specifically the Reichsabtei , which stands on a gentle incline above the rest of the village. This still-functioning Benedictine abbey founded in 764 is one of the most imposing and grandiose monasteries north of the Alps. Its patron Charlemagne gave the abbot important rights, elevating him to the status of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Architecturally the abbey has undergone many changes since its foundation. The present Baroque Basilika was created, after several false starts by other architects, by the Munich master Johann Michael Fischer in the eighteenth century. It's huge: physical details such as the 90-metre nave and 60-metre transept hardly convey the bombastic impression you get on entering. The wealth of altars, frescoes, paintings and stuccoed embellishments needs time to be appreciated fully, and yet there's nothing busy about the whole effect. Among the many treasures, a twelfth-century Romanesque Crucifixion is the most precious, but also special are the elaborate choir stalls and the three organs , considered among the most beautiful instruments in the world. At least one of them can be heard at the recitals held at 4pm every Saturday between February and November. Apart from the church, there's also the Museum der Benediktinerabtei (daily 10am-noon & 2-5pm; DM4/?2), which is housed in a part of the abbot's palace. Highlights are the amazingly delicate seventeenth- and eighteenth-century inlaid furniture pieces and the beautiful Baroque library, which looks more like a ballroom than a place for contemplation, so rich is the decor of marble pillars and frescoed ceiling. Note also the theatre, which was an important element in the teaching of arts in any eighteenth-century Benedictine monastery. Ottobeuren is not on a rail line, but has a regular bus link with Memmingen, a junction on the Munich-Lindau and Ulm-Oberstdorf lines, 11km to the northwest. Should you want to stay, there's a youth hostel at Kaltenbrunnweg 11 (tel 0 83 32/3 68, fax 0 83 32/72 19; DM17.50/?8.75), along with plenty of rooms in private houses (less than DM60/?30-DM99/?49). Other than sanatoria, the only hotels  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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in the village proper are Hirsch , Marktplatz 12 (tel 0 83 32/79 90; DM100-124/?50-62), and Am Muhlbach , Luitpoldstr. 57 (tel 0 83 32/9 20 50; DM150-199/?75-99). Hirsch also has the village's best restaurant , and is the main tap of the local brewery. The tourist office is in the Kurverwaltung, Marktplatz 14 (May-Oct Mon-Fri 8am-noon & 2-5pm, Sat 10am-noon; rest of year Mon-Fri only; tel 0 83 32/92 19 50, fax 92 19 92, www.ottobeuren.de ).
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