Cities: Melk, Austria

My first encounter with Melk was triggered by reading Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose: There a Sherlock-Holmes-like Franciscan monk-detective, William of Baskerville, and his adlatus, Adson of Melk, a Benedectine novice, were the protagonists in a medieval whodunit. Melk, then I learnt, is famous for its abbey (Stift) which also served as a kind of hostel for the Austrian emperors. It's located on the banks of the Danube river and became a stop on my bike tour to Vienna.

#1 Stift Melk - seen from the cemetery hill



#2 Danube river - seen from the Stift (barrage with lock and powerplant in the foreground)



#3 Stift Melk - entrance



#4 Into the inner core



#5 Within the abbey's walls



#6 Staircase


Photography in the church is prohibited. Its splendor and pomposity might be judged as outrageous - it's overloaded with golden platings, almost begging for an iconoclastic reformation. Here is a glimpse from the entrance:

#7 Church entrance


The following image of a staircase is puzzling since at the bottom's center a circular mirror reflected the view up to the ceiling:

#8 Staircase - view down to the mirrored ceiling



#9 Staircase - straight view up


Sony ILCE-6500 with Sony E 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 OSS except #4 CZ Loxia 25mm F/2.4

C&C always welcome! Thank you for viewing!



Edited by waldo_posth - 12 November 2023 at 17:00