Bourglinster

Every year, on the first Tuesday after Pentecost, thousands of pilgrims flock to Echternach for the famous procession. They 'dance to the rhythm of a polka' through the city on their way to the basilica with the crypt and the tomb of Saint Willibrord, the Irish monk and missionary who founded the Benedictine chapel in 698. The young, combative Willibrord chose Echternach as a base for his reportedly not-so-gentle conversion missions to the north. He died in 739, amid a scent of sanctity. Nevertheless, the monks managed to maintain their presence and exert their influence until 1789, the year in which the French revolutionaries dismantled everything that had a hint of holiness. The pious monks were 'invited to pack their bags in a revolutionary manner.' The abbey later served, among other things, as a porcelain factory and even for a time as a barracks.

Lannoo