Melk
Sign in to saveMelk (; older spelling: ) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey.
AI overview
Melk is a small city in Austria with about 5,000 residents, located along the Danube River near the scenic Wachau valley. It is primarily known for Melk Abbey, a large baroque monastery that dominates the city and attracts visitors from around the world.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Settlement.name
- Melk
- Settlement.settlement_type
- Municipality
- Settlement.image_skyline
- Melk - Stift (1).JPG
- Settlement.image_caption
- Melk Abbey
- Settlement.image_shield
- AUT Melk COA.svg
- Settlement.shield_size
- 80x110px
- Settlement.pushpin_map
- Austria
- Settlement.pushpin_mapsize
- 270
- Settlement.pushpin_map_caption
- Location within Austria
- Settlement.map_caption
- Location within Melk district
- Settlement.subdivision_type
- Country
- Settlement.subdivision_name
- Austria
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Notable sights
- People
- In fiction
- References
- External links
Melk (; older spelling: ) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey.
The town is first mentioned as in 831 in a donation of Louis the German; the name is from a Slavic word for 'border.' The area around Melk was given to Leopold I, Margrave of Austria, in the year 976 to serve as a buffer between the Magyars to east and Bavaria to the west. In 996 mention was first made of an area known as , which is the origin of the word (German for Austria). The bluff which holds the current monastery held a Babenberger castle until the site was given to Benedictine monks from nearby Lambach by Leopold II, in 1089. Melk received market rights in 1227 and became a municipality in 1898. During the Holocaust, there was a Nazi concentration camp at Melk, which functioned as a subcamp of Mauthausen.