In the 11th century the diocese of Passau founded the parish of Melk. The parish church of St. Stephen was located on the ridge east of the castle or monastery. Since the way was arduous for the citizens of Melk, they built a Marian chapel in the market in the 15th century, which became the parish church in 1508.
In the second half of the 16th century, a large part of the population turned to Protestantism. The citizens developed a strong self-confidence and strove for greater independence from the monastery. Nevertheless, they successfully defended the market in 1619 against Upper Austrian Protestants who marched against Vienna with an army. The "Reformation Patent" of 1627 and the subsequent expulsion of all Protestant teachers and pastors meant the end of Protestantism in public. Only a few noble families in the area could still remain Protestant in private.
In 1693 the monastery exchanged the parish of Melk with the daughter churches of Matzleinsdorf and Maierhöfen from the diocese of Passau for the parishes of Baden, Oberwaltersdorf and Moosbrunn.
The parish church
The chapel "In Honor of Our Lady" was built around 1400 and expanded into a church in the 15th century. The Olivet Group (around 1520) is an important work of the Danube School. Abbot Berthold Dietmayr had the church baroqueized in 1715. In 1771 it received rococo altars with paintings by Kremser Schmidt. After the local fire in 1847, building councilor Karl Rösner erected a new tower according to plans of the parish church in Vienna Hietzing. The interior was decorated in neo-Gothic style around 1900.
The Parsonage
In 1752, the Viennese master builder Matthias Gerl (1712-1765) erected the impressive building, consisting of three two-story wings, incorporating older components. The baroque façade is horizontally banded on the ground floor and shows a vertical lattice structure with coffered fields on the upper floor.
The passageway with an ogival gate in the central axis leads to the inner courtyard on wooden pavement. The wing on the slope side has deep Baroque pillar arcades and Platzl vaults.