The abbey as a tourism magnet

Charge an entrance fee to the Wachau, the UNESCO World Heritage Site between Melk and Krems? An entrance fee to be allowed to travel through the river valley, see the wine terraces, stop at the Heurigen and take a boat trip, visit the castles and abbeys? Here in the Wachau, too, possible contingents of visitors are already being discussed, but: “Are you out of your mind?” is the first thing one is tempted to exclaim. Yes, how much longer will it be possible to cope with masses of visitors, short-term guests from the boats, buses and individual traffic during the high season in the Wachau? At the time of the apricot blossom, the Wachau is virtually booked out at short notice, in summer it is full of excursion and river cruise guests, and in autumn there is mass cycling and hiking. The streams of visitors to the Wachau “down by the Danube” are almost unmanageable at some times. Bus groups, campers, individual cultural tourists, cruise ship guests, cyclists – they all meet in the narrow lanes of the villages, along and on the Danube.

A beautiful and protected natural and cultural landscape – but who wants to pay extra for this pleasure?

There is just as much going on in the large abbeys of Melk and Göttweig, two true tourist hot spots in the Wachau. Wait a minute. Abbey and hot spot, retreat and bus tourists, faith, retreat and selfie sticks? Does that go together?

Seems so, because: Why don’t you drive up to Melk Abbey or Göttweig Abbey on a beautiful, clear autumn day, both perched so unmissable and breathtakingly beautiful above the Danube and – find a parking spot. Try to get through the groups of visitors from Europe and Asia, the groups from Holland, the campers from Germany and the US travellers who have just disembarked from the ship to the ticket office. A friendly, almost Babylonian-like confusion of languages, noisy visitors with badges with their first names pinned to their chests, colourful flags and headphones dominate the image of the two popular excursion monasteries here. Melk Abbey is probably the only abbey I have visited as an excursionist without encountering a single monk during my stay.

Austria’s religious orders are an indispensable cultural factor in Austria, some are even real tourist magnets whose streams of visitors must be perfectly controlled so that we don’t have to say here too at some point: Attention, overtourism – we have to limit the number of visitors. The churches, abbeys, libraries, music, autograph or art archives and museums open to the public with works of art from many centuries – these offer cultural added value for us travellers and are marketed accordingly by the abbeys, which are also commercial companies. For a long time now. Admont Abbey in Styria, for example, with the largest abbey library in the world, or Kremsmünster in Upper Austria with its Tassilo Chalice – priceless cultural assets from our past are stored in our monasteries.

Those convents and abbeys that have always been popular destinations in Austria can easily compete with other top sights in Austria. Melk Abbey recorded 540,000 visitors in 2017, topped only by the basilica in Mariazell with over 700,000 visitors. The museums of  Klosterneuburg Abbey  and Göttweig Abbey follow with 100,000 and 94,000 visitors respectively (source: 2017 cultural statistics of Statistics Austria).

The Benedictine Abbey of Melk in particular is an extremely important factor for tourism in the Wachau; incidentally, around 43 percent of visitors are “carted” up here directly from their river cruise to visit. When it comes to organising tours, a monastery has to take care of mundane things like lock times, construction sites and rush hours, multilingual training for cultural education, the affiliated abbey high school and above all: maintaining the magnificent building with enormously high investments. Cultural programmes and summer theatre are already common sources of income. Nevertheless, the preservation and restoration of libraries and archives, baroque frescoes and gardens are almost impossible to finance in many places.

So many abbeys are opening up to their visitors and to new sources of income – not only through their museums and shops. As support for those of us who need help: In thinking, in finding peace, in solving problems. By talking, praying or discussing with others. With yoga, walking or meditation. Pilgrimages for all, theme trails and meditation paths are offered – in Germany, some abbeys are already working with virtual reality experiences, such as the Benedictine abbey Corvey in Paderborn.

So many abbeys are opening up to a (new) audience: some abbeys have always done this because it is laid down in the rules of the order, some have to find their way out first. Also via social media. Heiligenkreuz Abbey in the Vienna Woods, for example, is a pioneer in modern communication. The brothers have their own blogs, you can tweet along at masses, the brothers chant for CD recordings, have their own professional recording studio and a university on the abbey grounds. An abbey that doesn’t need to worry about young blood.

“What are you looking for? What do you need?” these are the questions often asked to guests, pilgrims and retreatants in our many abbeys.  Contemplation, retreat, detox – digital or fasting. The additional offers of many abbeys besides library tours and museum visits are becoming more and more suitable for everyday life.  Temporary monastery – this is still reserved for men, but the abbey doors are also open for women almost everywhere for the new offer: Yoga, fasting, herbal training and meditation. There is nothing that the abbeys along the Danube do not offer in some way. And “being a host” is not forgotten anywhere, stopping for a bite to eat is always possible: most abbey guesthouses are always prepared for bus tourists and hungry families on Sunday excursions.

In Lower Austria’s Danube Valley with its excursion culture and the Wachau as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as in Hungary, the abbeys have long been prepared for interested crowds of visitors and are used to dealing with large crowds and bus groups. Overtourism also in the abbeys? Sometimes yes.