Maria Wörth
Encyclopedia
Maria Wörth is a municipality in the district of Klagenfurt-Land
in the Austria
n state of Carinthia
. The centre of the resort town
is situated on a peninsula at the southern shore of the Wörthersee
. In the east the municipal area borders the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt
. The municipality consists of the two Katastralgemeinde
n Maria Wörth and Reifnitz (Ribnica).
Church was erected about 875 during the Christianization
in former Carantania, led by the Bishops of Freising
based at Innichen Abbey
. It was first mentioned in a 894 deed as Maria Werd — as the site had then been an island, the Old High German
term Wörth or Werder
like Slovene Otok denotes a piece of land surrounded by water. The church served for the translation
of the relics of Saints Primus and Felician
and played an important role within the Christian mission in the Duchy of Carinthia
.
About 1150 Bishop Otto of Freising
founded a college of canons
here and had the small Winterkirche chapel built beside the collegiate church
. In 1399 both churches were destroyed by fire and afterwards rebuilt in the present late Gothic
style. The Freising Prince-Bishop
s gradually lost their influence in Carinthia and about 1500 the college finally became an annex of Millstatt Abbey
, from 1598 led by Jesuits
.
With the Suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Millstatt Abbey was dissolved and Maria Wörth passed to the re-established Bendectine St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal
in 1809. Not until 1903 the present-day municipality was established on territory of neighbouring Schiefling
and Keutschach
.
site and, due to its romantic setting, a popular wedding church. Another tourist attraction is the nearby Pyramidenkogel
, an 851-meter high mountain with a 54-meter high observation platform, the Pyramidenkogel Tower.
In 1901 the composer Gustav Mahler
built a villa near the hamlet of Maiernigg, on the lakeside in the east of the municipality, where he was already using a "composing hut" in which most of his works written between 1900 and 1907 were composed, including his Symphonies No. 5-8. The hut is now open as a small museum. Through his friendship with Alma Mahler
, the composer's widow, Alban Berg
also composed at Maiernigg, which was visited by many of the Viennese
artistic elite.
, Germany
Codroipo
, Italy
Aretxabaleta
, Basque Country
Klagenfurt-Land
Bezirk Klagenfurt-Land is a district of the state ofCarinthia in Austria.-Municipalities:Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.*Ebenthal **Aich an der Straße, Berg, Ebenthal,...
in the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n state of Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
. The centre of the resort town
Resort town
A resort town, sometimes called a resort city or resort destination, is a town or area where tourism or vacationing is a primary component of the local culture and economy...
is situated on a peninsula at the southern shore of the Wörthersee
Wörthersee
The Wörthersee is an alpine lake in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia.-General facts:The lake is elongated, about 20 km long and 1–2 km wide. It stretches from the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt in the east to Velden in the west...
. In the east the municipal area borders the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
. The municipality consists of the two Katastralgemeinde
Katastralgemeinde
A Katastralgemeinde , a German word , is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Italian provinces of South Tyrol, Trentino, Gorizia, Trieste, and in Slovenia.A cadastral community records property ownership in a cadastre,...
n Maria Wörth and Reifnitz (Ribnica).
History
A first St. Mary'sMary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
Church was erected about 875 during the Christianization
Christianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
in former Carantania, led by the Bishops of Freising
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising
The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria, Germany. It is led by the prelature of the Archbishop of Munich, who administers the see from the mother church in Munich, the Frauenkirche, also known as Munich Cathedral...
based at Innichen Abbey
Innichen Abbey
The Abbey of Innichen is a religious complex in Innichen in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Founded in the 8th century and rebuilt in the 12th–13th centuries, it is considered the most important Romanesque building in Tyrol and the Eastern Alps and, in is home to a 13th century sculpture and a...
. It was first mentioned in a 894 deed as Maria Werd — as the site had then been an island, the Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
term Wörth or Werder
Werder
-People:*August von Werder , Prussian general*Ed Werder , U.S. sports journalist*Felix Werder , Australian-based composer of classical and electronic music...
like Slovene Otok denotes a piece of land surrounded by water. The church served for the translation
Translation (relics)
In Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another ; usually only the movement of the remains of the saint's body would be treated so formally, with secondary relics such as items of clothing treated with less ceremony...
of the relics of Saints Primus and Felician
Primus and Felician
Saints Primus and Felician were brothers who suffered martyrdom about the year 297 during the Diocletian persecution. The "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" Saints Primus and Felician (Felicianus) were brothers who suffered martyrdom about the year 297 during the Diocletian persecution. The...
and played an important role within the Christian mission in the Duchy of Carinthia
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....
.
About 1150 Bishop Otto of Freising
Otto of Freising
Otto von Freising was a German bishop and chronicler.-Life:He was the fifth son of Leopold III, margrave of Austria, by his wife Agnes, daughter of the emperor Henry IV...
founded a college of canons
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
here and had the small Winterkirche chapel built beside the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
. In 1399 both churches were destroyed by fire and afterwards rebuilt in the present late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style. The Freising Prince-Bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s gradually lost their influence in Carinthia and about 1500 the college finally became an annex of Millstatt Abbey
Millstatt Abbey
Millstatt Abbey is a former monastery at Millstatt in the Austrian state of Carinthia, which was established about 1070 and finally abolished in 1773....
, from 1598 led by Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
.
With the Suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Millstatt Abbey was dissolved and Maria Wörth passed to the re-established Bendectine St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal
St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal
St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Sankt Paul im Lavanttal in the Austrian state of Carinthia.-History:...
in 1809. Not until 1903 the present-day municipality was established on territory of neighbouring Schiefling
Schiefling am See
Schiefling am See is a market town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is situated along the low Sattnitz mountain range between the Wörthersee in the north and the Drava Valley in the south. The municipality of Schiefling also includes the Katastralgemeinden...
and Keutschach
Keutschach am See
Keutschach am See is a town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia in Austria.According to the 2001 census 5.6% of the population are Carinthian Slovenes....
.
Sights
Maria Wörth is a centre of Austrian and European summer tourism, with 330,000 arrivals (although these numbers have declined sharply since the 1950s). Today's parish church Saints Primus and Felician stands on the highest point of the peninsula, with the neighbouring Winterkirche beneath it. It is a major pilgrimagePilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
site and, due to its romantic setting, a popular wedding church. Another tourist attraction is the nearby Pyramidenkogel
Pyramidenkogel
Pyramidenkogel is an high mountain in Carinthia, Austria. It is located to the south of the Wörthersee and near the town of Maria Wörth, in an area that is a boundary between speakers of German and Slovenian. In nearby Slovenia the mountain is known as Jedvovca. The mountain has been a tourist...
, an 851-meter high mountain with a 54-meter high observation platform, the Pyramidenkogel Tower.
In 1901 the composer Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
built a villa near the hamlet of Maiernigg, on the lakeside in the east of the municipality, where he was already using a "composing hut" in which most of his works written between 1900 and 1907 were composed, including his Symphonies No. 5-8. The hut is now open as a small museum. Through his friendship with Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler
Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel was a Viennese-born socialite well known in her youth for her beauty and vivacity. She became the wife, successively, of composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, and novelist Franz Werfel, as well as the consort of several other prominent men...
, the composer's widow, Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
also composed at Maiernigg, which was visited by many of the Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
artistic elite.
Notable people
- Adolf Heinrich Bercht (1875 - 1940) was owner of Schloss Reifnitz and mayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of the capital of federal state of Carinthia, KlagenfurtKlagenfurt-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
between July 13th, 1926 to May 31st, 1931. He is interred in the Bercht family grave in Maria Wörth.
Twin towns
FreisingFreising
Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Freising. Total population 48,500.The city is located north of Munich at the Isar river, near the Munich International Airport...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Codroipo
Codroipo
Codroipo is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 70 km northwest of Trieste and about 20 km southwest of Udine.The town was founded in Roman times and named Quadruvium...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Aretxabaleta
Aretxabaleta
Aretxabaleta is a town in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain.It is located on the Vitoria-Bergara road, almost adjacent to its larger northern neighbor, the city of Mondragón-Arrasate, and the smaller Eskoriatza to the south.-The place name:In...
, Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
External links
- Gemeinde Maria Wörth - Official site of the municipality (German)