Friesach

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title: "Friesach" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cities-and-towns-in-sankt-veit-an-der-glan-district"] topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friesach" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameFriesach
settlement_typeMunicipality
image_skylineFriesach Stadtansicht 14042007 01.jpg
image_captionFriesach with Petersberg Castle
image_shieldWappen at friesach.png
shield_size80x110px
pushpin_mapAustria
pushpin_mapsize270
pushpin_map_captionLocation within Austria
map_captionLocation within Sankt Veit an der Glan district
coordinates
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_nameAustria
subdivision_type1State
subdivision_name1Carinthia
subdivision_type2District
subdivision_name2Sankt Veit an der Glan
parts_stylepara
leader_titleMayor
leader_nameJosef Kronlechner (SPÖ)
area_footnotes
area_total_km2
elevation_m634
population_as_of
population_footnotes
population_total
population_density_km2auto
timezoneCET
timezone_DSTCEST
utc_offset+1
utc_offset_DST+2
postal_code_typePostal code
postal_code9360
area_code_typeArea code
area_code04268
websitewww.friesach.at
::

| name = Friesach | native_name = | settlement_type = Municipality | image_skyline = Friesach Stadtansicht 14042007 01.jpg | imagesize = | image_caption = Friesach with Petersberg Castle | image_shield = Wappen at friesach.png | shield_size = 80x110px | shield_link = | pushpin_map = Austria | pushpin_mapsize = 270 | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Austria | image_map = | mapsize = | map_alt = | map_caption = Location within Sankt Veit an der Glan district | coordinates = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Austria | subdivision_type1 = State | subdivision_name1 = Carinthia | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Sankt Veit an der Glan | parts_type = | parts_style = para | p1 = | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Josef Kronlechner (SPÖ) | leader_party = | leader_title1 = | leader_name1 = | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | area_metro_km2 = | elevation_m = 634 | elevation_max_m = | elevation_min_m = | population_as_of = | population_footnotes = | population_total = | population_urban = | population_metro = | population_note = | population_density_km2 = auto | established_title = | established_date = | timezone = CET | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset = +1 | utc_offset_DST = +2 | registration_plate = | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 9360 | area_code_type = Area code | area_code = 04268 | website = www.friesach.at | footnotes = Friesach () 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

Location

Friesach covers an area of 120.83 km2 and its mean elevation is 631 meters above sea level. It is located in northern Carinthia near the border with Styria, about 40 km north of its capital Klagenfurt.

Populated places

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)
  • Dörfl (13)
  • Engelsdorf (377)
  • Friesach (Breže) (1933)
  • Gaisberg (77)
  • Grafendorf (246)
  • Guldendorf (4)
  • Gundersdorf (5)
  • Gunzenberg (8)
  • Gwerz (51)
  • Harold (18)
  • Hartmannsdorf (11)
  • Hundsdorf (5)
  • Ingolsthal (90)
  • Judendorf (66)
  • Kräuping (14)
  • Leimersberg (12)
  • Mayerhofen (8)
  • Moserwinkl (22)
  • Oberdorf I (24)
  • Oberdorf II (13)
  • Olsa (465)
  • 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)
  • Stegsdorf (16)
  • Timrian (13)
  • Wagendorf (6)
  • Wels (5)
  • Wiegen (9)
  • Wiesen (11)
  • Zeltschach (Selče) (187)
  • Zeltschachberg (19)
  • Zienitzen (134)
  • Zmuck (17)

History

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. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Friesach_Petersberg_Burg_und_Peterskirche_14042007_01.jpg" caption="Petersberg Castle"] ::

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.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Nördlicher_Stadtgraben_in_Friesach.JPG" caption="Town moat and fortification"] ::

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. 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

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

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Friesach-pfarrkirche.jpg" caption="St. Bartholomew"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Friesacher-Stadtbrunnen.jpg" caption="Town centre"] ::

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 Fürstenhof residence. Other areas of interest include:

Economy

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

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.

Politics

Municipal Council

The municipal council (Gemeinderat) consists of 23 members. Since the 2021 Carinthian local elections, it is made up of the following parties:

Twin towns

Friesach is twinned with:

Notable people

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Nicole_Schmidhofer_Sporthilfe-Gala_2017.jpg" caption="[[Nicole Schmidhofer]], 2017"] ::

  • 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 (BZÖ)
  • Robert Stadlober (born 1982), actor and musician.

Sport

References

References

  1. Freed, John B. "Medieval German Social History". ''Central European History''. 25:1 (1992). 7.
  2. Balgaranov, Denis. (16 August 2021). "Austria's biggest solar farm opens today".
  3. "Ergebnisse und Visualisierungen zur Gemeinderatswahl in Kärnten 2021.".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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