Schloss Schönbühel

Melk (German pronunciation: [mɛlk] (listen); 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 Leopold I, Margrave of Austria, in the year 976 to serve as a buffer between the Magyars 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 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.

Aggsbach is a small wine-growing town in the Krems-Land district of Lower Austria, Austria. As of 2001, it has a population of 714 and an area of 13.72 km.² Aggsbach was first mentioned in an 1148 document calling it "Accusabah".

Thal is a settlement in the municipality of Dunkelsteinerwald in Melk District, Lower Austria in northeastern Austria.

Gerolding is a settlement in the municipality of Dunkelsteinerwald in Melk District, Lower Austria in northeastern Austria.

Emmersdorf an der Donau is a town in the district of Melk in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.

Maria Laach am Jauerling is a town in the district of Krems-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.

Stiftsgymnasium Melk (German: Melk Abbey's gymnasium) is a Roman Catholic Benedictine-run gymnasium located in Melk, Austria. The gymnasium is located within and run by the well-known monastery Melk Abbey. Founded in the 12th century as a monastic school, it is also the oldest continuously operating school in present-day Austria.

Melk Abbey (German: Stift Melk) is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river, adjoining the Wachau valley. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several members of the House of Babenberg, Austria's first ruling dynasty.

The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.1-centimetre-tall (4.4 in) Venus figurine estimated to have been made around 25,000–30,000 years ago. It was recovered on August 7, 1908 from an archaeological dig conducted by Josef Szombathy, Hugo Obermaier, and Josef Bayer at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria. The figurine was found by a workman named either Johann Veran or Josef Veram and is carved from an oolitic limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre. It is now in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria.

Nölling is a settlement in the municipality of Dunkelsteinerwald in Melk District, Lower Austria in northeastern Austria.

Aggsbach Charterhouse is a former Carthusian monastery in Aggsbach Dorf in Schönbühel-Aggsbach in Lower Austria. The monastery was founded in 1380 by Heidenreich von Maissau. It was dissolved in 1782 in the reforms of Emperor Joseph II. The premises were mostly converted for use as a castle, except for a few portions which were incorporated into the parish priest's farm. The monks' cells and the cloister were demolished. The Carthusian church, with the addition of a tower, remains as the parish church.

Loosdorf is a town in the district of Melk in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.