Shortly after the year 700 Saint Willibrord ordered the construction of his first church here which is located just below the main nave of the present Basilica. The 21 m long remains of the Merovingian construction had been discovered after World War II. A second church of about the same size of the present church had been built around 800. A big fire in 1016 caused severe damage to the building; the new construction had been finished in 1031. The main feature of the Roman Basilica was the alternation of pillars and columns, a style which had been copied later on in the Rhineland. After the pillage by French Revolution troops in 1794, the Basilica had been transformed into a china factory. After 1861, an association called “Willibrordus Bauverein” suggested the reconstruction of the building and decided to restore it in neo-gothic and neo-roman style. In 1944, during the German attack, the building had been destroyed and then rebuilt from 1948 to 1953. The crypt seems to go back to Carolingian times, the frescos were painted during the 14th century.