More than 2000 years ago, Trier was founded and is considered the oldest town in Germany. Many buildings such as the Porta Nigra, the Basilica of Constantine, the thermal baths, the cathedral or the Church of Our Lady give evidence of the significant history of Trier, which is also one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The metropolis on the river Mosel also played an important role in the life of Hildegard of Bingen. Here, she was accepted in her role as a prophet during a synod by Pope Eugenius III (1145-1153). In the following period, she also maintained intensive contact with the Archbishops, convents and monasteries of the city. According to his own statements, Hildegard was even related to Archbishop Arnold I (1169-1183); she probably was his aunt. Around 1160, Hildegard visited Trier in the course of her preaching journeys and following a request by the Provost of the Cathedral Church she sent the speech she had held during Pentecost to the clergy of Trier. Her relations with the Monastery St. Eucharius/St. Matthias were especially close. This is where her scriptures attracted enormous attention. Abbot Ludwig, who held this office in 1168, also seemed to have had a friendly relationship with Hildegard and supported her during the 1170s in completing her scriptures. He was also one of the people who commissioned Hildegard’s Vita.

Apart from a few reconstruction works of more recent times, the Basilica of St. Matthias is still preserved in the form seen during its consecration in 1148. It is not only a parish and monk’s church, but since the discovery of the relics of the Apostle Matthias also an important pilgrimage church as well as the burial church of the first two Bishops of Trier, Eucharius and Valerius. In its essential parts, the Trier Cathedral also exists exactly as Hildegard saw it more than 800 years ago.