MELK Benedictine Abbey

This Baroque abbey was rebuilt between 1702 and 1736 and as you know I am usually taken by or impressed with old churches,  but this Benedictine Monastery is certainly something very special -  it takes your breath away.

Sitting majestically high on a bluff overlooking both the Danube River and the the town of Melk in Lower Austria it is an impressive sight even before you go up the hill and enter the grounds.

Having read Umberto Eco's mystery novel "The Name of the Rose"  I do remember Adson von Melk one of the novels protagonist's, a tribute to this Abbey and it's famous library. Once you have traveled through the abbey including the new bastion, it 's Coloman courtyard, Marble Room, spiral staircase, Library , Abbey Church, The terrace gardens and Pavillion plus the eleven (11) rooms of the museum, with frescoes statues, ceiling paintings and other art work I think you will feel as I do: this is truly a worthy world heritage site that cannot be missed of you are ever anywhere near Vienna or Lower Austria