Melk Abbey

Why go

This record is the abbey, not the town or the abbey park as a separate place. The abbey's history page says the margrave Leopold II of Babenberg gave the church and fortress on the rock of Melk to the first Benedictine abbot Sigibold and his monks on 21 March 1089, that monks have lived there without interruption since, and that the present Baroque complex goes back to the rebuilding under abbot Berthold Dietmayr, elected in 1700, with the master builder Jakob Prandtauer. The abbey's visitor FAQ says groups should reserve in advance, while individual visitors get tickets on the spot at the ticket office in the first courtyard and can buy places on the next guided tour there. It says the ticket includes the abbey museum, the Marble Hall, the balcony, the library and the abbey church and the Northern Bastion, and, for part of the year, the abbey park.