Monks from Corbie Abbey arrived in 816 at a site called Hethis and moved in 822 to the present location near Villa Huxori. Adalard of Corbie was the first abbot. The first stone church was consecrated in 844, and the westwork was built from 873 to 885.
The article calls the westwork the oldest surviving example of its type, with a vaulted hall and galleries around the main room that influenced later Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Its interior holds the only known Carolingian wall paintings of ancient mythology with a Christian reading. Abbot Wibald rebuilt the westwork in the High Romanesque style in the 12th century.
Sacking in 1634 left only the westwork standing, and a Gothic church replaced the rest after 1665. Baroque buildings followed. UNESCO listed it in 2014.
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