Walton Walker
The Abbey was founded 777 by Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria and is one of the oldest abbeys of central Europe. On a striking ice-age terrace above the town, it dominates the whole Krems valley. The monks (Order of Saint Benedict), lead a famous gymnasium which has existed since 1549, and an astronomical and geophysical observatory ("Mathematical tower"). The First Slovak Republic ceased to exist here when the exiled Slovak government capitulated to General Walton Walker leading the XX Corps of the 3rd US Army on 8 May 1945.