It was later the residence of the rulers of the short-lived Principality of Leiningen, before that became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria, and its historic buildings still belong to the princely family.

The abbey was one of four Carolingian foundations intended to establish Christianity in the region of the Odenwald, the others being the monasteries of Lorsch, Fulda, and Mosbach).

According to legend, a Gaugraf named Ruthard called the Frankish bishop Saint Pirmin to the area to set up a monastic settlement west of today's town, at the entrance to the Otterbachtal.

A disciple of Pirmin, an Aquitanian called Saint Amor (the namesake of the abbey and town as its first abbot) is reported to have moved the monastery to its current location in 734 AD.

[1]: 82 In 1525 the abbey buildings were stormed and plundered during the German Peasants' War by forces under the command of Götz von Berlichingen.

[2] In the 1740s the site was completely refurbished in the late Baroque/early Rococo style, of which it remains a significant example, under the supervision of Maximilian von Welsch.

The abbey was finally dissolved in 1803 and given with its lands to the Princes of Leiningen as compensation for lost territories occupied in 1793 by French revolutionary troops.

They resided at Amorbach until April 1819, returning to England so that their daughter, the future Queen Victoria would be born on British soil.

Welsch put a massive façade made from Buntsandstein before the Romanesque towers, on the pediment he placed a statue of Saint Benedict.

The elevated main portal is reached by two large stairs with railings ornamented with statues of Jesus, Mary, Zechariah, Elisabeth, Joachim and Anne.

Günther's main altar picture shows the arrival of Mary in Heaven, flanked by life-sized statues of her parents, Joachim and Anne.

[1]: 84 In their work at Amorbach, this style and Klangideal ("sound-ideal"), a synthesis of Southern German and French organ building, could be thoroughly realized.