Melk Abbey
Melk Abbey crowns a rocky bluff above the Danube at the entrance to the Wachau valley, one of the supreme achievements of Baroque architecture in Europe. A Benedictine community has occupied the site since 1089, when the Babenberg margrave Leopold II gave one of his castles to the monks, and the abbey has remained an active monastery and school for more than nine centuries.
The present golden-ochre complex was rebuilt between 1702 and 1736 to the exuberant designs of Jakob Prandtauer, and its long terraced wings, twin-towered church and high dome present an unforgettable silhouette to travellers on the river below. The interior overwhelms with marble, gilding and ceiling frescoes by Johann Michael Rottmayr, while the library, with its richly painted ceiling and thousands of medieval manuscripts, is among the most beautiful monastic libraries in the world.
The abbey featured as a setting in Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose," and today welcomes more than half a million visitors a year. Admission fees from these visitors now help sustain an institution that for most of its history relied on its lands and farms, allowing the monks to continue their life of worship, scholarship and teaching.
- Annual visitors
- ≈ 550,000
- Location
- 48.2281, 15.3339
- Local time
- 00:33 (Europe/Vienna)
🕘 Visiting hours
| Mon–Sun | 09:00–17:30 |
Apr-Oct 09:00-17:30 (last admission 17:00); Nov-Mar shorter 09:00-16:30, mainly guided tours.
✨ Saints & blessed venerated here
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Saint Coloman Saint
Abbey and town patron; relics in a sarcophagus on the left transept altar since 1014.
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Saint Benedict Saint
Founder of the Benedictine order; transept altar and Rottmayr's nave frescoes of his life.
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Saint Peter Saint
Co-patron of the abbey church; high altar shows Peter and Paul parting before martyrdom.
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Saint Paul Saint
Co-patron of the abbey church, depicted with Peter on the high altar.
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Saint Leopold III Saint
Margrave of Austria whose Babenberg line founded Melk.
Care & donations
Benedictine Abbey of Melk (Stift Melk)
Admission fees fund abbey maintenance; donations accepted
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