The Wachau is a stretch of the Danube Val­ley between Melk and Krems, a land­scape of high visu­al qual­i­ty. It pre­serves in an intact and vis­i­ble form many traces — in terms of archi­tec­ture, (monas­ter­ies, cas­tles, ruins), urban design, (towns and vil­lages), and agri­cul­tur­al use, prin­ci­pal­ly for the cul­ti­va­tion of vines — of its evo­lu­tion since pre­his­toric times.