Melk Abbey

A Benedictine abbey on a rocky outcrop above the Danube, founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria, gave one of his castles to monks from Lambach. A monastic school followed in the twelfth century and the library became renowned for its manuscripts, many of them carrying musical compositions. In the fifteenth century the abbey led the Melk Reform, which reinvigorated monastic life across Austria and southern Germany. The Baroque buildings that stand now went up between 1702 and 1736 to designs by Jakob Prandtauer, with church frescoes by Rottmayr and Troger.