Only 29 miles as the crow flies from Klagenfurt, this strategic town guards the gap between the Mur Valley and Klagenfurt. Petersberg Castle stands on a hill outside of town, home of the Count of Friesach, and another (Geiersberg) is being constructed. Outdoor passion plays (Burghofspiele) are well known and presented at each summer's harvest. The town is walled, and valued as an important stop along the road from Venice to Wien. Located in the narrow Metnitz valley, the town used to be owned by the Archbishop of Salzburg, and the entire town is surrounded by a 9th century moat. Markets are held once a month on the first Saturday.
The summer seat of the Bishop
of Gurk, this castle stands on a high hill in the Gurktaleralpen not far
from the town of Friesach. A small village of the same name lies at the
base of the hillock, and provides the castle with its erous scullery-maids
and other servants. Magi of Rabenstein spent several days here as guests
of one of its knights, Sir Heinrich von Dürnstein 206. During their
stay they confronted its Castellan (see the adventure summary The
Picture of Castellen Demel), but managed to befriend several of the
castle's denizens, including the minnesinger Sir Gottfried von Strassburg.
Strassburg's chapel is graced by a majestic woodcarving of Helena, mother
of Emporer Constantine, which was fashioned by Basil, a woodcarver who,
prior to his death, possessed the power to create carvings with a magic
of their own.
*Historical anecdote - Sir Gottfried composed the legendary ballad Tristan and Isolde (or 'Isolt') in 1210, which was later set to music by Wagner n the 18th Century.
The seat of the Bishop of Gurk,
this lies in a cultivated valley only 16 miles southwest of Friesach, and
34 north of Klagenfurt. The Cathedral, begun in 1140, was completed in 1200
by Prince Bishop Roman I, who was Councilor to Fredrick Barbarossa. The
Cathedral is onion-domed with two symetrical towers. A beautiful carving
of Sampson slaying the lion also adorns the doorway, and elaborately carved,
decorative foliage decorate the walls, columns, and pilasters. Panels inside
are in the process of being painted, and will be finished in 1220. The Cathedral's
crypt is supported by 100 marble columns with plain sqare capitals finished
in 1174. The tomb of Countess Emma of Freisach and Zeltschach is here (d.
1045). She is venerated for founding the first monestary at Gurk in the
11th Century, and is being petitioned for sainthood.
The Cathedral canons live in priory buildings around the Cathedral itself, and the Bishop's chapel is equally spectacular. It has a facade with brilliant murals (still being painted) of Solomon, the Transfiguration of Christ, and the inscription 'here shines in splendour the throne of the great king and of the lamb.' The Vault of the Chapel depicts the Garden of Eden and Celestial Jerusalem. The Cathedral also has pained glass windows from Italy. The small village of Gurk stands adjacent to the mighty Cathedral.
This rectangular walled town is the Seat of the Duke of Carinthia, and a center of coth-making and timber. Only four miles east of the town, situated on a high rock, is the Hochsterwitz Castle with the Duke's bedchambers. It is the most beautiful castle in all of Carinthia and Austria.
A church just south of St. Veit and Hochsterwitz. Every 2nd Friday after Easter, villagers celebrate the 4-hills pilgrimige, lighting campfires about the church and on top of the hill. A midnight mass is read, they they all hurry downhill bearing torches led by a small cross, up three hills, the third hill being Veitsberg, the tallest at 3800 ft. It must be completed by the next night and is associated with sun-worship by the locals.
This castle was completed in the mid 12th Century and stands just southwest of St. Veit.
In a small plain stretching out form the Glan river valley, from St. Veit to Klagenfurt, this flatland was the capital of the Roman Province of Noricum. Virunum is roughly in the middle of the Zollfeld, smashed by migrating tribes the ancient Roman stones can be seen littering the plain. An old ruined fortress stands and is all that remains besides the Maria Saal Church.
This Abbey was founded in the 8th Century by Bishop Modestus at the request of the Bishop of Salzburg. Entombed in a sarcophagus below is the remains of St. Modestus. The Duke's chair, an ancient stone seat beneath a shaded clump of trees, sits quite near the Abbey, and is the site where the Duke of Carinthia is invested. The chair itself is made of stones of the ruined Virunum. This site is called the Herzogstuhl.
This town serves as the Seat of the Duchy of Carinthia. A frontier settlement on the eastern shore of the beautiful lake Wrthersee. An ancient Celtic fountain adorns the city square, and local legend speaks of an ancient dragon, the Lindwurm, which lives in the lake, perhaps in a cave deep in the waters (a great iron statue of the beast, pictured below, stands in the town centre). Klagenfurt lies 186 miles north of Venice, and benefits from the steady flow of merchants both north and south. Merento of Bonisagus has noted that the site was once an important old Roman fort called Virunum. Virunum's actual ruins lie scattered over the plain about four miles north of the Klagenfurt.
The Lindwurm
The ruins of a Carolingian Castle, Moosburg, lie in the rolling hills just northwest of Klagenfurt. They are the site of Arnulf the German Emperor's birth in the 9th Century.
A lake that stretches over 10 miles in length, reaching to Klagenfurt at its eastern shore. Because it receives little in the way of flood waters from rivers it is exceptionally warm (75-82 degrees Farenheit) in the summer. Yellow hills blanketed with chestnut trees hide the steep slopes of the majestic Karawankan Alps to the south, and form the southern border of the Drava river.
A small river flows out from the western end of the lake to join the Drava river 3 miles to the south. Hot summers make the lake very popular, despite legends of an ancient dragon that dwells within its depths (the Lindwurm of Klagenfurt). In the spring and fall seasons the lake is perpetually enshrouded in fog.
A pilgrimage-sanctuary situated on a penninsula which juts out from the southern bank of the sparkling blue Wrthersee. A simple round tower sits by the chapter house, which contains murals from the 11th Century depicting the Apostles. This is a popular stopping place for pilgrims travelling from the west to the Holy lands, and is called the Winterkirche.
This page was last modified on 6/13/98.
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