Page 148 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

146  A USTRIA REGION B y REGION

y Melk Abbey

The town and abbey of Melk, the original seat of
the Babenbergs, tower above the left bank of the
Danube, some 60 km (37 miles) west of Vienna. In the
11th century, Leopold II invited the Benedictines from
Lambach to Melk and granted them land and the
castle, which the monks turned into a fortified abbey.
Almost completely destroyed by fire in 1297, the abbey
was rebuilt many times. In the 16th century, it had to
withstand a Turkish invasion. In 1702, Abbot Berthold Stairwell
Dietmayr began a thorough remodelling of the A spiral staircase with ornamental
complex. Jakob Prandtauer, Johann Michael Rottmayr, balustrade connects the library
with the Stiftskirche, the monastery
Joseph Munggenast and other renowned artists of the church of St Peter and St Paul.
day helped to give the present abbey its magnificent
Baroque form.

. Library
The impressive library holds some 100,000
volumes, including 2,000 manuscripts and
1,600 incunabula. It is decorated with a
beautiful ceiling fresco by Paul Troger.

KEY
1 Marble Hall, a magnificent room
decorated with a painting
by Paul Troger, was once used for
receptions and ceremonies.
2 Convent courtyard
3 17th-century two-tiered
Crowning with the Crown fountain
of Thorns 4 The grand staircase leading to
This powerful painting by Jörg the imperial apartments, with putti
Breu (1502) is exhibited in the and sculptures.
Abbey Museum.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p295 and pp316–18

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