[1] A small memorial chapel on the saint's grave was replaced by a large stone church built by bishop Monulph around 570.

Nearby is the impressive tomb of the Count and Countess van den Bergh (Johannes Bossier, 1685), which was transferred from the Dominican church of Maastricht.

The 11th-century Chapel of Saint Maternus and the 15th-century Koningskapel (built by the French kings Charles VII and Louis XI) were considered irreparable and were demolished.

In 1846 the four panels that belonged to the reliquary chest of Saint Servatius (Noodkist) were sold to an antiques dealer and ended up in the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.

In 1955 a fire caused Cuypers' Gothic Revival westwork spire to fall through the roof of the church, which made another thorough restoration necessary (1982–1991).

Starting in the 14th century (but perhaps earlier) a seven-yearly pilgrimage was organized in cooperation with nearby Aachen Cathedral and Kornelimünster Abbey, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to the region.

Both the East choir and the Westwork of the Maastricht church have been influential in the development of Romanesque architecture in the Meuse and Rhine valleys.

[4] Both the exterior of the East choir and the interior of the westwork of Saint Servatius contain architectural sculpture that is considered amongst the most interesting in the Mosan region.

[5] The 34 elaborately carved capitals in the Westwork depict scenes from books well-known to the canons, such as Saint Augustine's De Civitate Dei and various bestiaries.

This may be the only surviving work by a once important group of Maastricht and Cologne based painters, who received high praise from Wolfram von Eschenbach in his Parzival.

Since the donation of a silver reliquary in the shape of a Roman triumphal arch by Charlemagne's biographer Einhard in c. 830, the church has acquired many treasures, most of which are now kept in the Treasury.