Lower Austria
Lower Austria charms with vineyards nestled along the Danube valley, paired with great music festivals in castles perched it the countryside - it's a perfect getaway for music lovers and oenophiles.
It is as if its builders wanted to be closer to heaven: Melk Abbey is the most magnificent building in the entire Wachau Valley. Everything here is splendorous, everything reaches skywards. Below, the Danube is wending its way through the valley.
Possible, says Pater Ludwig. Of course, one can't say for sure, but to be honest, it still is like that today. “No matter who comes here to do work, whether it is painters, construction workers, electricians - everyone pauses for a moment to look up!” To the towers, for example. To the statue of Christ on the abbey church. Or to the ceiling fresco inside the church. Always up, towards the sky: Whoever sets foot in Melk Abbey cranes their neck in amazement.
The workers and craftsmen of the 18th century will have experienced much the same emotions, says the Benedictine monk. They, too, will have been touched and perhaps overwhelmed. There might not be a second man-made location in Austria that reaches towards the heavens like Melk Abbey. And it is highly likely that the abbey is the only location in the entire Wachau Valley where no one is noticing the Danube river at all.
Ironically, it was the river that created the foundation for this special place. The rock on which the country’s most famous abbey sits has been shaped by the Danube as it gradually dug deeper and deeper into the landscape over millions of years. Early human settlements from the Late Bronze Age existed on the striking rock massif above the right river bank. Then it was discovered by the Romans, and even later, the Babenbergs set up their residence here and erected a castle from which they protected their territory. The Benedictine monks moved here in 1089 when the abbey had just been built.
No matter who comes here to do work, whether it is painters, construction workers, electricians - everyone pauses for a moment to look up!
Lower Austria charms with vineyards nestled along the Danube valley, paired with great music festivals in castles perched it the countryside - it's a perfect getaway for music lovers and oenophiles.
The beauty and lifestyle here seem inconceivable in this day and age - areas this pure and authentic tend to disappear. And locals here have chosen to embrace their heritage gastronomically, viticulturally and agriculturally.