Melk

I teach at a Benedictine College and it was particularly exciting for me to get a chance to come to Melk, because my institution has a close connection to this amazing monastery. I was fortunate enough to even get to stay in the monastery guesthouse, while some of our group stayed instead in the town below.

Even with the lousy weather Melk is a captivating place.

One of the first places that a few of us visited was a yarn shop in the town. It had great selection and was fun to see.

We barely made in time - town was pretty desserted.

 

The monastery is on a large hill and you have to climb up to reach the barock portal.

Originally built in 1089 as a final resting place for the Babenberger dynasty (who ruled from the 900s to about 1246), Melk has a long exciting history including sheltering the Bishop of Passau and struggling against the onslaught of Mathew Corvinus. (Remember him Underworld fans?!) In 1566 because of the reformation the monastery was was in particularly dire striaghts having dwindled down to three priests three clerics and 2 lay brothers. Fortunately Melk was chosen as a place to model the new counter reformation practices and so a school was built based on the jesuit model and a massive remodelling and restructuring began. The new Abbot Berthold Dietmayr appointed architect Jakob Prandtauer in 1700 and Melk began to take on its now familiar Barock character.

We had a lovely evening in the common room on the evening of our arrival.

 

The halls of the guest house are festive - the murals on the left describe the life of the prodigal son.

 

My room was very pleasant. It would have been a lovely place to meditate and enjoy peaceful contemplation, but of course there was no time for any of that.

 

Here is the Koloman fountain  in the Rathaus square. The story of Koloman is sad. Colman was an Irish pilgrim on route to the holy land. Because of his unusual dress he was captured and accused of being a spy and hung in 1012 along with some robbers. He spoke no German, so he could not explain himself. later he was made a saint (probably due to the remorse of the villagers?).

 

Here you can see the "Stift" and how it dominates the town from above.

 

One of my favorite pictures from this trip is this guy down in the Town square.

 

IN the evening we had a lovely meal. First sitting outside waiting for our table and then enjoying the hospitality of the town in the restaurant inside.

 

Here we are with a host family known by a couple in our group.