Melk Benedictine Abby
May 26 2024
After lunch we had an off the ship tour of the Melk Benedictine Abbey. The abbey was originally established in 1050 and has been added to, modified, updated and restored ever since. Each Abbot who is in charge has put his stamp on the the abbot.
In the 1700's through the 1800's is was "the" place to stay for royalty and high rank dignitaries to stay. There is one whole wing which was built to house the visiting royalty. Right now the abbey is functioning abbey which is home to only 22 monks from the Benedictine order. It is also a functioning church which conducts regular services, and a private school for over 800 students in grades 1 through 12.
The abbey has been restored to reflect how it looked in Baroque times 17th century through half way through the 18th century. In comparing it to other cathedrals we have seen it is much brighter and has much more colour than the classic gothic cathedrals.
The tour guide lead us through each of the rooms and explained a lot of stuff I had never known about these cathedrals. For example all of the golden statues are really craved wooden statues which are really hollow with gold leaf applied on top. I thought all of the statues were stone. Second thing I found out is that what looks like marble is not really marble but pained plaster work. The rough plaster has a layer of very hard fine plaster applied which is then coloured to make it look like marble.
It was a really excellent and informative tour.
Terry
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