BENEDICTINE ABBEY OF MELK

The abbey overlooks the town and the valley from its rocky spur. Melk, a major cultural and spiritual centre in Austria, is today classified by UNESCO. In 1089, the former castle of the Babenberg family became the Benedictine abbey under the tutelage of Margrave Leopold II. From the 12th century, a school was attached to it. In the course of history, the monks of Melk have produced important documents in the fields of natural sciences, literature and music. The library houses 100,000 volumes and hundreds of manuscripts, the oldest of which dates from the early 9th century. The decor of this baroque abbey inspired the setting of the film The Name of the Rose.

The Emperor's Gallery (Kaisergang) is almost 200 m long and leads to the monastic chambers. The church stands with its two towers at the top of this sumptuous complex. The high dome (65 m) was decorated by Johann Michael Rottmayr, who also signed frescoes and paintings.

The museum of the abbey. Eleven rooms have been fitted out to display the treasures of the abbey. The oldest objects come from donations by the Babenbergs, including a supposed fragment of the cross of Jesus. Rooms 1 to 7 display objects from the liturgy: chalices, richly embroidered priestly vestments, monstrances, crucifixes... Room 8, a little strange, with these eleven men partially coming out of a wall to represent Man on his way, open to God. The twelfth stage of this Way of the Cross takes on the features of the visitor reflected in a mirror. Room 9 is dedicated to religious painting, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Room 10 evokes one of St. Benedict's rules: the need to glorify God in every activity carried out in the monastery, including the most down-to-earth actions. Objects related to construction, plans for modifying the building, etc. are on display.

The marble hall. This hall is impressive by its dimension, but also by the fresco on the ceiling signed by the artist Paul Troger (1731). In the centre, Athena stands on a cart pulled by lions, symbol of wisdom and temperance. Hercules, on her left, symbolizes the strength needed to fight the cerberus of the underworld. This allegory evokes the House of Habsburg, which, through its virtues, leads the people from the shadows to the light. Above the doors, Latin inscriptions of some of the rules of St. Benedict. The door frames are made of Salzburg marble and the walls of stucco.