Lindau Abbey, more properly the collegiate church of St. Mary and St. Stephen, was a house of secular canonesses — high-born women who lived a religious life without full monastic enclosure — from the 9th century until secularisation in 1803. The church that survives on the site is largely Baroque, rebuilt in the 18th century, but it incorporates older fabric and stands on the original medieval foundations. The twin towers on the west front are a landmark visible from the lake.
The interior is richly decorated in the south German Baroque style. The frescoed ceiling and the stucco work are well executed, and the church has an atmosphere of confident 18th-century Catholicism that sits oddly in a building whose institutional history is so much older. Entry is free; it functions as a parish church and is open through the day.