The Basilika St. Kastor

Emperors and kings have met here.

„
Vue et approuvé par nous, le Commandant Russe de la Ville de Coblence.
Russian city commander, 01.01.1814

The Basilika St. Kastor is the oldest preserved church in Koblenz. The collegiate church, consecrated in 836, was the scene of significant historical events. The monastery of St. Kastor was the meeting and arbitration place of emperors and kings as well as their descendants. In 842, the Romanesque church was the venue for the negotiations of the sons of Emperor Louis the Pious, which led to the partition of the Frankish Empire in the Treaty of Verdun the following year.

The building in its present form dates mainly from the middle of the 12th century.
On July 30, 1991, Pope John Paul II elevated the Kastorkirche to the status of basilica minor.
Together with the Liebfrauenkirche and the Florinskirchen, the Basilika St. Kastor shapes the silhouette of the Koblenzer Altstadt.

A Russian city commander with a sense of humor

Amusing is the story about the fountain on the square in front of the basilica, the Kastorbrunnen. In 1812, the French prefect Doazan, expecting the victorious outcome of Napoleon's Russian campaign, had the following inscription chiseled into the neoclassical fountain standing there:

"A Napoleon le Grand, an. MDCCCXII Memorable par la Campagne contre les Riusses sous la Prefecture des Jules Doazan."

(Eng: To Napoleon the Great. 1812 commemorating the Russian campaign under the prefecture of Jules Doazan).

Brunnen mit Beschriftung auf dem Vorplatz von Basilika St. Kastor ©Koblenz-Touristik GmbH

As is well known, the Russian campaign ended with a devastating defeat of Napoleon.
The victorious Russian soldiers also came to Koblenz, which had been abandoned by the French. The new, Russian city commander showed humor when, on January 1, 1814, he added his confirmation, in French of course, under the eulogy of Napoleon engraved by Doazan:

"Vue et approuvé par nous, le Commandant Russe de la Ville de Coblence."

(Eng: Seen and approved by us, the Russian commander of the city of Coblence)

Thus he immortalized the memory of Napoleon's defeat and the end of the French period in Coblence.