Krems an der Donau - Göttweig Abbey

South of Krems, prominently situated on a wooded hill 269m/850ft above the Danube, stands the former Benedictine Göttweig Abbey, originally founded in 1704 by Bishop Altmann of Passau. The present buildings were begun in 1719 to the design of the Baroque architect Lukas von Hildebrandt, and work continued until 1783, leaving the plan unfinished. The parts completed were the east and north fronts, with the Kaiserstiege (1738), one of the finest staircases of the Baroque period; the ceiling painting by Paul Troger (1739) depicts the transfiguration of the Emperor Charles VI.