Place in Carinthia, Austria
Friesach
(
Slovene
:
Bre?e
) is a historic town in the
Sankt Veit an der Glan
district of
Carinthia
,
Austria
. First mentioned in an 860 deed, it is known as the oldest town in Carinthia.
Geography
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Location
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Friesach covers an area of 120.83 km
2
and its mean elevation is 631 meters above sea level. It is located in northern Carinthia near the border with
Styria
, about 40 km (25 mi) north of its capital
Klagenfurt
.
Populated places
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The municipality of Friesach consists of the following
cadastral communities
(or
katastralgemeinden
): Friesach, St. Salvator and Zeltschach; while further subdivided into 43 populated places (with population in brackets as of 1 January 2022).
- Dobritsch (13)
- Dorfl (13)
- Engelsdorf (377)
- Friesach
(Bre?e) (1933)
- Gaisberg (77)
- Grafendorf (246)
- Guldendorf (4)
- Gundersdorf (5)
- Gunzenberg (8)
- Gwerz (51)
- Harold (18)
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- Hartmannsdorf (11)
- Hundsdorf (5)
- Ingolsthal (90)
- Judendorf (66)
- Krauping (14)
- Leimersberg (12)
- Mayerhofen (8)
- Moserwinkl (22)
- Oberdorf I (24)
- Oberdorf II (13)
- Olsa (465)
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- Pabenberg (45)
- Reisenberg (25)
- Roßbach (50)
- St. Johann (124)
- St. Salvator
(528)
- St. Stefan (81)
- Sattelbogen (12)
- Schratzbach (31)
- Schwall (48)
- Silbermann (19)
- Staudachhof (38)
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- Stegsdorf (16)
- Timrian (13)
- Wagendorf (6)
- Wels (5)
- Wiegen (9)
- Wiesen (11)
- Zeltschach
(Sel?e) (187)
- Zeltschachberg (19)
- Zienitzen (134)
- Zmuck (17)
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History
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In 860 King
Louis the German
of
East Francia
donated the lands of the estate
ad Friesah
- derived from
Slavic
Breza
(
birch
) - in the Bavarian
March of Carinthia
(Carantania) to Archbishop Adalwin of
Salzburg
. From about 740
Bavarians
had crossed the
Central Eastern Alps
and settled among the Slavic
Carantanians
.
After the formation of the
Duchy of Carinthia
in 976, Friesach remained a southern Salzburg exclusive and a strategically important outpost. About 1076 Archbishop
Gebhard of Salzburg
, a follower of
Pope Gregory VII
in the
Investiture Controversy
, had the
Petersberg
fortress erected above the town in order to prevent Emperor
Henry IV
from crossing the Alps. The archbishop also had fierce enemies in the Carinthian ducal
House of Sponheim
, who after his deposition made several attempts to take possession of Friesach. Constant attacks by Duke
Engelbert
were finally repelled in 1124. In 1149 King
Conrad III of Germany
stayed at the castle on his way back from the
Second Crusade
, as did
Richard the Lionheart
returning from the
Third Crusade
in 1192, attempting to elude the guards of Duke
Leopold V of Austria
.
The settlement of Friesach beneath Petersberg Castle received
town privileges
in 1215. During the
Middle Ages
, it was a principal
market town
and commercial centre due to an important trade route from
Vienna
to
Venice
that ran through the city. The town flourished when Archbishop
Eberhard II of Regensberg
(1200-1246) made it the second largest city in the
Archdiocese of Salzburg
and the most important town in Carinthia. From local silver resources it even minted its own currency called the
Friesacher Pfennig
or
Frizatik
, widely used within the Austrian and
Hungarian
lands in the 12th century. The town gained in regional importance, and by the 13th century the Friesach
pfennig
was the standard coin used in the eastern Alps - circulated even as far as Croatia.
[3]
The importance of the town diminished with the rise of the
House of Habsburg
, Carinthian dukes since 1335. The fortress, however, continued to be an important power basis of the Salzburg prince-archbishops throughout the Middle Ages, once again enlarged and strengthened by
Leonhard von Keutschach
from 1495 onwards. It nevertheless belonged to Salzburg until the
secularisation
of the archbishopric in 1803, when Friesach finally fell to Carinthia.
Demographics
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At the 2001 census Friesach had 5,335 inhabitants. Of that, 89.8% are Roman Catholic, 2.6% are Protestant and 1.5% are Muslims. 4.8% of the population is non-religious.
Objects of interest
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The mediæval town around the
Romanesque
parish church of Saint Bartholomew and its city walls are preserved in quite good condition. From the 13th century on the Salzburg Archbishops stayed at the
Furstenhof
residence. Other areas of interest include:
Economy
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Friesach has several small to medium-sized industries, including metalworking and textilemaking. Like most regions of Carinthia, the town mainly depends on tourism (such as a ruined castle and a chocolate museum). With the Teutonic Order hospital, it is also a supraregional health centre.
Sustainability
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In 2021, the town began fulfilling much of the electricity and hot water demands by way of the largest solar farm in Austria, a nearby 5,750 square metre installation that generates 2.8 million kilowatt-hours of power per year.
[4]
Politics
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Municipal Council
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At the 2009 elections, Friesach's local council (
Gemeinderat
) consisted of 23 members of the following parties:
- 13
SPO
- 5 LSM (Independent)
- 3
BZO
- 2 BFF (Independent)
- 1
FPO
Twin towns
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Friesach is
twinned
with:
Notable people
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- Heinrich Harrer
(1912 ? 2006), Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author of the books
Seven Years in Tibet
(1952) and
The White Spider
(1959), died locally
- Nik P.
(born 1962) , real name
Nikolaus Presnik
, an Austrian
schlager
singer.
- Josef Bucher
(born 1965), politician (BZO)
- Robert Stadlober
(born 1982), actor and musician.
Sport
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References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Friesach
.
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