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COLLINS & WOOD TOUR AUSTRIA  Collector's Tour, Georgia Museum of Art, September 2007 Collins & Wood visited The Majestic Abbey of Melk, Austria, founded in the 10th Century. It's church and library are among the greatest samples of baroque art in Austria. Melk Abbey is an historic Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in the federal state of Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley. It has the rare distinction of surviving as an active Benedictine monastery continuously since its foundation. The abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A school was founded in the 12th Century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection. The monastery was also a major site for the production of manuscripts. In the 15th Century the abbey became the centre of the Melk Reform Movement which reinvigorated the monastic life of Austria and Southern Germany. |
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