Needless to say, when Jimmy and I had the chance to see the magnificent Melk Abbey in Austria last month, I jumped at the opportunity. I know, Melk doesn’t quite have the aristocratic ring of Downton , nor is it home to a wealthy British Earl and his three beautiful daughters (the Melk Abbey is home to 900 students and a handful of Benedictine monks and nuns), but the Melk Abbey does hail as one of the world’s most famous Baroque monastic sites.
Several factors contributed to the abbey’s unusual safe passage for the last 900 plus years. The monastery’s scriptorium became a major site for the production of manuscripts, contributing to the abbey’s extensive and renowned collection housed in the library (pictures were strictly forbidden), although I did take a picture of a framed picture. It’s not the best, which I usually reserve for you, but it’s all I had to work with.
I know, looking out at the town of Melk from the abbey's lofty position, I could hear history’s heartbeat pounding in my ears (of course, it could have just been the windy day).
In the big picture, history is rarely as comforting as it is enlightening.
Monday, I’ll share more of the history of Melk Abbey and a view of the interior of this magnificent Baroque castle and abbey.