Aerial view of Melk Abbey |
Tuesday, 13 June. The sun was still traveling with us, and we awoke to another beautiful day. Today we would be visiting the famous Benedictine Abbey at Melk. (Jane and I had been here in 2003, and I am repeating some comments from that visit.) The Melk Abbey as an institution dates from 1089 when the Babenburg family (rulers of Austria before the Habsburgs) donated their castle on this site to the Benedictines, and they in turn converted it into a fortified abbey. (The Babenburg castle had been built nearly a century earlier on the ruins of a Roman stronghold.) However, that abbey was destroyed by fire in 1287 and again by the Turks in their 1683 invasion. The present baroque buildings were constructed 1702-1736, then rebuilt after another major fire two years later.
The Prelates Courtyard |
The ship was already docked at Melk when we got up. Buses arrived at 08:40 to take us to a spot above the Abbey, saving us the steep climb we’d had in 2003. From then on, the tour was pretty much the same as on our earlier visit. We entered through the Prelates Courtyard and went into the Imperial Gallery (Kaiserzimmer) side of the Abbey, the rooms once used by the royal family
We climbed an elaborate spiral staircase up to the museum, filled with medieval treasures. Moving through the museum rooms, we came to the rotating wooden model of the Abbey. We followed the Imperial Corridor to Marble Hall, the largest and finest room on this side. The guide said there was no marble in it, which isn’t quite true. The door frames and pediments are real marble, but the walls are marble stucco. The ceiling, painted with mythological scenes, was fantastic.
Looking up the spiral staircase | 
Marble Hall | 
Ceiling of Marble Hall |
Abbey church from the terrace |
We exited from Marble Hall onto the large outdoor Terrace in front of the Abbey church. There was a great view of the Danube, the town of Melk, and the surrounding countryside. Crossing the Terrace, we entered the other wing of the Abbey and came to the exquisite library. The walls were lined with dark wood shelves filled with thousands of beautifully bound old books (with matching bindings, no less). The fresco on the ceiling was also painted to give an illusion of depth. Finally we were led into the Abbey Church. It was exquisite, probably the most beautiful baroque we've ever seen. It was so heavily decorated with frescoes, marble, statues, and gold that it was difficult to decide whether it would be inspiring or distracting for one trying to pray.
View of Abbey from the town square |
It was now 10:10 and we were given 40 minutes before we had to catch the bus on the edge of the town below the Abbey. Jane and I made a quick visit to the separate pavilion on the grounds, then took the stairs down to the town. (We hadn’t done that on our 2003 visit.) We needed some Euros for end-of-trip tips, and I was glad to discover that some of my long-gone German had come back over the course of nearly two weeks in Germany.
Then while Jane continued toward the bus, I ran back to a grocery store we’d passed to get some Austrian candy (Mozartkugeln) Katy had recommended. Jane was on the bus when I got there. We were back at the ship by 10:50, and it sailed at 11:10.
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