Origin from 1089
Melk Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on a rocky outcrop above the town of Melk overlooking the Danube in Lower Austria, founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria, gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. Its present Baroque buildings were constructed between 1702 and 1736 to designs by the architect Jakob Prandtauer, and the abbey holds the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau along with the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg. Melk's fame and academic standing allowed it to survive the dissolutions ordered by Emperor Joseph II in the late eighteenth century, and it remains active today, running a school that serves nearly nine hundred pupils and holding a library of rare medieval manuscripts and Baroque-era literature. The abbey lies within the Wachau Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its image appeared on an Austrian commemorative ten-euro coin in 2007.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period Sources
1. Melk Abbey (Wikipedia)
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Category:1089 establishments in Europe
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