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The modern-day ruin of the collegiate church is the result of arson by French troops in 1761, who had stockpiled materials inside the collegiate church, which they did not want to leave to the enemy after their defeat in the Seven Years’ War and the consequent withdrawal. The original monastic church was erected as a Carolingian hallenkirche (hall basilica) circa 830 A.D. and 850 A.D. After it burned down in 1038, a new Romanesque structure approximately 100 metres in length was built, with two bell towers, of which only one remains, on the west side. The structure is marked by its single Katharinenturm (St Catherine’s Tower), which houses the oldest functioning bell in Germany dating from 1038. Due to its age, however, it only rings once a year to mark a festive occasion and to commemorate the monastery’s first abbot, Lullus, the Archbishop of Mainz, who died in Hersfeld in 786 A.D. The collegiate church’s ruin is considered the largest Romanesque church ruin in the world.