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3 unusual facts about Melk Abbey


Baron Eligius Franz Joseph von Münch-Bellinghausen

Münch-Bellinghausen was educated at the seminary of Melk Abbey and later at Vienna, where he studied philosophy and jurisprudence, and where he began his career in 1826.

Melk Abbey

In his well-known novel The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco named one of the protagonists "Adson von Melk" as a tribute to the abbey and its famous library.

A monastic school, the Stiftsgymnasium Melk, was founded in the 12th century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection.


Adalbero of Würzburg

He brought the monk Egbert from Gorze, who proved extremely effective firstly in bringing about the renewal of Münsterschwarzach Abbey and then, through the spread of the subsequent Münsterschwarzach Reforms, in exerting an influence far beyond it, from Harsefeld near Stade in the north to Melk and Lambach (a reformed Benedictine abbey founded by Adalbero himself in the castle of his family) in the south.

Münsterschwarzach Abbey

Egbert not only reformed and renewed the spiritual life of Münsterschwarzach but then, through the spread of the subsequent Münsterschwarzach Reforms, exerted an influence far beyond it, from Harsefeld near Stade in the north to Melk and Lambach in the south.


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