Abtei Heiligenkreuz. Bibliothek

This Cistercian monastery, twenty-five miles south of Vienna, was founded in 1133. Situated near the eastern border of Austria, Heiligenkreuz was the victim of several Turkish assaults, notably in 1529, 1532, and 1683. When on one occasion the entire community was forced to flee, the monks transported their entire manuscript collection down the Danube to Passau, in the course of which journey many codices suffered still-visible water damage. HMML filmed nearly 400 monastic manuscripts dated from the 10th to 17th c. here.