Melk Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located in Melk, Austria, on a rocky hill above the Danube River. The present Baroque building of Melk Abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 to a design by the architect Jakob Prandthauer. Originally the idea was to modernize the church, but in the end the decision was taken to build a completely new building. Melk Abbey was founded in 1089 by the Austrian Margrave Leopold II, who donated one of his castles to the Benedictine monks of Lambach Abbey. Definitely the jewel of this important historic monastery is its church. It is an exquisite example of lavish baroque architecture. It is positioned so that it overlooks the Danube. The church of Melk Abbey contains the skeleton of St. Colman, who was an 11th century Irish saint who found his death around Vienna on his way to Jerusalem. The bones are kept in a sarcophagus in the left altar. The painting above the high altar in the church depicts the Martyrs Peter and Paul, while the fresco depicts St Benedict.

In his famous novel, The Name of the Rose, the Italian writer Umberto Eco named one of the characters Adso von Melk in tribute to the abbey and its famous library. It holds a collection of almost 100,000 volumes dating back to the 12th century.

In 2007, the Austrian government minted a commemorative euro coin depicting Melk Abbey.

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