Luxeuil Abbey was founded around 590 by the Irish missionary Saint Columbanus, on the ruins of the Gallo-Roman settlement of Luxovium in eastern France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter and became one of the leading monasteries of its age. It had a monastic school with a high reputation, a large library and a great scriptorium.
The abbey was devastated by the Vikings around 886 and sacked by the Hungarians in 917. In 816 Emperor Louis the Pious renewed its charters and restored the church and buildings.
The abbey church was built in the Gothic style in the fourteenth century. Today it is the Basilica of St. Pierre, the parish church of Luxeuil-les-Bains. The cloisters and monastery buildings still stand and served as a seminary until 1901. Most of the old abbey site lies beneath the modern town.
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