Echternach is the oldest town in Luxembourg, founded around the abbey established in 698 by Willibrord, a Northumbrian monk who evangelised the Frisians and is buried here. For centuries the abbey was one of the most important scriptoria in northern Europe.
The basilica
The Basilica of St Willibrord stands over the saint's tomb, in a white marble sarcophagus in the crypt — the oldest part of the building, dating to the Merovingian period. The church above was rebuilt after being destroyed in 1944 during the Ardennes fighting; the reconstruction is faithful and the crypt survived.
The abbey buildings, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, now house a school and a museum covering the scriptorium, whose illuminated manuscripts — including the Codex Aureus of Echternach — are among the finest of the early medieval period, though most are now in German libraries.
The Hopping Procession
On the Tuesday after Whitsun, Echternach holds the Sprangprëssioun — the Hopping Procession — in which some eight to ten thousand participants move through the town to the basilica in rows linked by white handkerchiefs, advancing with a distinctive hopping step to a repeated melody played by dozens of bands.
Its origins are disputed and probably medieval, connected variously to plague, cattle disease and epilepsy, for which Willibrord was invoked. It has been on the UNESCO intangible heritage list since 2010 and is the largest surviving dancing procession in Europe. Pilgrims come from Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and it fills the town completely.
The rest of the town
The medieval centre has a market square with the Dënzelt, the fifteenth-century former court house, and sections of the town wall with towers. A Roman villa just outside, one of the largest north of the Alps, has been excavated and partly reconstructed with a museum.
The Echternach lake, a short walk away, has a path around it, a beach and pedalos, and is where the town goes in summer.
Practical
Echternach is forty minutes from Luxembourg City by free bus, and is the natural base for the Mullerthal — the rock formations begin immediately west of the town. It sits directly on the German border; the bridge crosses to Echternacherbrück.