Melk Abbey is a Benedictine Monk Monastery. It sits on a mountain top and used to be a castle but was willed to the Benedictine Order. Like so many other things, it is magnificent. It’s a functioning private Catholic school and has several hundred students. It houses one of the most impressive book and manuscript collections in Europe in its library. Many of its manuscripts are one of a kind. The church is breath taking, done in the baroque architecture – extremely ornate.
While touring the museum we came upon a most interesting invention: a casket. Take a moment to look at the picture and see if you can spot what is unusual about it.
Apparently many years ago during times of extreme austerity, in a cost saving endeavor, the bishop proclaimed that each parish only needed to have one casket. And there you see his invention.
When the graveside ceremony is over and the casket is lowered into the ground. Instead of burying it, the lever on the near end is pulled, opening the bottom and dumping the deceased’s remains out into the grave. The casket was to be then pulled up and placed back in the parish storage for reuse the next time a parishioner died. The bishop was way ahead of his time, even back then thinking green: recyclable caskets.
Predictably, the idea didn’t go over too well, but the prototype casket remains.
Look closely at the ceiling in this room. It appears to be domed, but it's not. It's a flat ceiling. The 3-D illusion of Baroque!
As was frequently the case, scaffolds were in place facilitating repairs. A never ending cycle.
The abbey overlooks the town of Melk. I asked our guide why, with this beautiful church here at the abbey, was there another church merely a couple of blocks away. She said, "This church is for the monks. That church is for the villagers."
