Melk

Coat of arms

Melk

Location within Austria

Coordinates: 48°14′N 15°21′E / 48.233°N 15.350°ECoordinates: 48°14′N 15°21′E / 48.233°N 15.350°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Thomas Widrich (ÖVP)

Area

• Total

25.71 km² (9.93 sq mi)

Elevation

213 m (699 ft)

Population (1 January 2016)

• Total

5,308

• Density

210/km² (530/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

3390

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Website

Melk (older spelling: Mölk) is a city of Austria, in the federal 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 Medilica 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 Margrave Leopold I in the year 976 to serve as a buffer between the Magyars (called "Turks" in that time's sources) to east and Bavaria to the west. In 996 mention was first made of an area known as Ostarrîchi, which is the origin of the word Österreich (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 Margrave Leopold II in 1089. Melk received market rights in 1227 and became a municipality in 1898. In a very small area, Melk presents a great deal of architectural variety from many centuries.

The Forsthaus, which accommodates the city archives and the tourist information office, is the starting point of the tour. Beside the Forsthaus the Zaglauergasse meets with the Wiener Straße. The Zaglauergasse is restricted on one side by remnants of the ancient city wall. At this junction one could find the Wiener Tor (Vienna Gate) until 1874. It has been, along with the Linzer Tor (Linz Gate) on the other side of the city, one of the two entrances to Melk throughout the centuries.

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Wikipedia