Which Austrian Baroque architect designed the Melk Abbey?

Which Austrian Baroque architect designed Melk Abbey? Jakob Prandtauer designed it. The monumental complex in Lower Austria was rebuilt in the Baroque style between 1702 and 1736, replacing and transforming an older Benedictine monastery above the Danube.

Prandtauer was born in Tyrol in 1660 and trained as a stonemason rather than through a modern architectural academy. He became one of the leading designers of Austrian monastic architecture, combining grand façades, ceremonial courtyards and richly decorated interiors. At Melk, he designed and supervised the construction, including the abbey church and much of the overall complex.

A common mix-up is Johann Michael Fischer, another important eighteenth-century Bavarian architect, and Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, a major Austrian Baroque architect. They designed other celebrated churches and palaces, but neither was the principal architect of Melk Abbey. Prandtauer died in 1726, before the entire project was completed; his nephew Josef Munggenast continued the work. The abbey also contains a famous library and is part of the Wachau Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.