The Carinthian 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 or swamps. In Old Slovene, acviljovec is a place haunted by such a wailing female ghost orcvilya.[8] Thus, they assumed that Klagenfurt's name was a translation made by the German settlers of the originalSlovene name of the neighbouring wetland. However, the earliest Slovene mention of Klagenfurt in the form ofv Zelouzi ('in Celovec', the Slovene name for Klagenfurt), dating from 1615,[9]: 8 is 400 years more recent and thus could be a translation from German. A later interpretation is that Old Slovenecviljovec may itself derive from an Italicl'aquiliu 'place at or in the water', which would make the wailing-hag theory obsolete.[10]: 83 [11]: 59–65
Pre-modern scholars attempted to explain the city's peculiar name using pseudo-etymologies: in the 14th century, theabbot and historiographerJohn of Viktring translated Klagenfurt's name in hisLiber certarum historiarum asQueremoniae Vadus 'ford of complaint',Hieronymus Megiser, master of the university college of the CarinthianEstates in Klagenfurt and editor of the earliest printed history of the duchy in 1612, believed the name to mean 'ford across the Glan River',[10]: 83 which, however, is impossible for linguistic reasons. The common people also sought an explanation in a story that a baker's apprentice was accused of theft and executed, but when the alleged theft turned out to be a mistake a few days afterwards, and the lad was proved innocent, the citizens' "lament" (Klagen) went forth and forth. This story was reported by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who later becamePope Pius II.[9]: 14
In 2007, the city changed its official name toKlagenfurt am Wörthersee ('Klagenfurt on Lake Wörth').[citation needed] However, since there are no other settlements calledKlagenfurt in the world, the previous shorter name is nearly always used.
The Cathedral of Klagenfurt and the DomplatzDuke Bernhard von Spanheim, the founder of the City
Legend has it that Klagenfurt was founded after a group of brave men slew an abominable winged "lindwurm" from the moors adjoining the lake,[when?] which was preying on the nearby duchy. The legend says that a tower at the edge of the moor was erected to watch out for the dragon, and that the dragon was baited using a bull fitted with a chain and hook, which caught the beast'spalatal. A village was subsequently founded on the battlesite, which later expanded into a town, while the watchtower made way for a castle. The feat is commemorated by a grandiose 9-ton Renaissance monument in the city centre.
Historically, the place was founded by theSpanheim Duke Herman as a stronghold sited across the commercial routes in the area. Its first mention dates from the late 12th century in a document in which Duke Ulric II. exempted St. Paul's Abbey from the toll charge "inforo Chlagenvurth".[9]: 7 That settlement occupied an area that was subject to frequent flooding, so in 1246 Duke Herman's son, DukeBernhard von Spanheim, moved it to a safer position and is thus considered to be the actual founder of themarket place, which in 1252 received acity charter.[citation needed]
In the following centuries, Klagenfurt suffered fires, earthquakes, invasions of locusts, and attacks from Ottomans, and was ravaged by thePeasants' Wars. In 1514, a fire almost completely destroyed the city, and in 1518Emperor Maximilian I, unable to rebuild it, despite the loud protests of the citizens, ceded Klagenfurt to theEstates, the nobility of the Duchy. Never before had such a thing happened. The new owners, however, brought about an economic renaissance and the political and cultural ascendancy in Klagenfurt. A canal was dug to connect the city to the lake as a supply route for timber to rebuild the city and to feed the city's new moats; the noble families had their town-houses built in the duchy's new capital; the city was enlarged along a geometrical chequer-board lay-out according to the Renaissance ideas of the Italian architectDomenico dell'Allio; a new city centre square, theNeuer Platz, was constructed; and the new fortifications that took half a century to build made Klagenfurt the strongest fortress north of the Alps.
In1809, however, the French troops (underNapoleon) destroyed thecity walls, leaving, against a large sum collected by the citizens, only one eastern gate (which was pulled down to make way for traffic some decades later), and the small stretch in the west which is now all that is left of the once grand fortifications. In 1863, the railway connection toSt. Veit an der Glan boosted the city's economy and so did the building of the Vienna-Trieste railway that brought to the city an imposingcentral station (destroyed in World War II) and solidified Klagenfurt as the centre of the region.
Former city hall, Alter Platz
During the 19th century, the city developed into an important centre ofCarinthian Slovene culture. Many important Slovene public figures lived, studied or worked in Klagenfurt, among themAnton Martin Slomšek, who later became the first bishop ofMaribor and was beatified in 1999, the philologistsJurij Japelj andAnton Janežič, the politicianAndrej Einspieler, and the activistMatija Majar. The Slovenenational poetFrance Prešeren also spent a short part of his professional career there. On the initiative of bishopSlomšek, teacher Anton Janežič and vicar Andrej Einspieler on 27 July 1851 in Klagenfurt theHermagoras Society publishing house was founded,[12] which in 1919 moved to Prevalje and then in 1927 to Celje, but was re-established in Klagenfurt in 1947. Several Slovene language newspapers were also published in the city, among themSlovenski glasnik. By the late 19th century, however, the Slovene cultural and political influence in Klagenfurt had declined sharply, and by the end ofWorld War I, the city showed an overwhelmingly Austrian German character.
Nevertheless, in 1919, the city was occupied by the Army of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and claimed for the newly founded South-Slav kingdom. In 1920, theYugoslav occupying forces withdrew from the town centre, but remained in its southern suburbs, such as Viktring and Ebenthal. They eventually withdrew after theCarinthian Plebiscite in October 1920, when the majority of voters in the Carinthian mixed-languageZone A decided to remain part of Austria.
In 1938, Klagenfurt's population suddenly grew by more than 50% through the incorporation of the town of St. Ruprecht and the municipalities of St. Peter, Annabichl, and St. Martin but duringWorld War II, the city was bombed 41 times. The bombs killed 612 people, completely destroyed 443 buildings and damaged 1,132 others.[citation needed] A volume of 110,000 cubic metres (3,884,613 cu ft) of rubble had to be removed before the citizens could set about rebuilding their city.[citation needed]
From the beginning of 1945, when the end of the war was rather obvious, numerous talks among representatives of democratic pre-1934 organisations had taken place, which later extended to high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht and officials of the administration. Even representatives of the partisans in the hills south of Klagenfurt were met who, in view of the strong SS-forces in Klagenfurt, agreed not to attempt to take the city by force,[13] but upheld the official declaration that south-eastern Carinthia was to be a Yugoslav possession.[14]
To avoid further destruction and a major bloodshed, on 3 May 1945General Löhr ofArmy Group E (Heeresgruppe E) agreed to declare Klagenfurt an "open city" "in case Anglo-American forces should attack the city", a declaration that was broadcast several times and two days later also published in theKärntner Nachrichten.[15]
On 7 May 1945, a committee convened in the historicLandhaus building of theGau authorities to form a Provisional State government, and one of the numerous decisions taken was a proclamation to the "People of Carinthia". This proclamation included the reporting of the resignation of theGauleiter andReichsstatthalterFriedrich Rainer, the transfer of power to the new authorities, and an appeal to the people to decorate their homes with Austrian or Carinthian colours. The proclamation was printed in theKärntner Zeitung of 8 May. When on the following day,Yugoslav military demanded of Klagenfurt's new mayor that he remove theAustrian flag from the city hall and fly the Yugoslav flag instead, the acting British Town Officer Captain Watson immediately prohibited this, but also ordered that the Austrian flag be taken down.[16] Accompanied by a guerilla troop carrying amachine pistol, a Yugoslav emissary appeared on the same day in theLandesregierung building, demanding of the ActingState Governor Piesch repeal the order to take down the Yugoslav flag, which was ignored.[citation needed]
On 8 May 1945, 9:30 am,British troops of theEighth Army under GeneralMcCreery entered Klagenfurt and were met in front ofStauderhaus by the new democratic city and state authorities. All the strategic positions and important buildings were immediately seized, andMajor GeneralHoratius Murray was taken to General Noeldechen for the official surrender of the 438th German Division. Three hours later, groups of partisan forces arrived on a train they had seized in theRosental valley the day before, at the same time as Yugoslav regular forces of the IVth army.[17] Both of these forces made their way through the city's streets which were jammed with tens of thousands ofVolksdeutsche refugees, and masses of soldiers of all the nationalities that had been fighting under German command and were now fleeing the Russians. These partisan and Yugoslav regular forces claimed the city and the surrounding South Carinthian land, establishing theKomanda staba za Koroška, which would be named the "Commandantura of the Carinthian Military Zone" under Major Egon Remec.[18] OnNeuer Platz—renamedAdolf Hitler Platz in 1938—British armoured vehicles[19] are said to have faced allied Yugoslav ones in a hostile way, which would have been a curious spectacle for the liberated citizens, but this is unlikely.
Several days passed before, under British pressure and American diplomatic backing, the Yugoslav troops withdrew from the city proper,[20] but not before establishing a parallel Carinthian-Slovene civil administration (theCarinthian National Council) presided over by Franc Petek. However, protected by British soldiers, the members of the Provisional State Government went about devising a comprehensive programme to cover the new political, sociological, and economic outlooks in the land, which would serve theBritish military authorities. Rapid financial assistance and the restitution of property to the victims of the Nazi regime was necessary. This posed a problem, because one of the first actions of the British had been to confiscate all the property ofthe Nazi Party, as well as to freeze theirbank accounts and to block their financial transfers. It took months before basic communication andpublic transport, mail service and supply were working again, to some extent at least. During the years that followed these turbulent days, a major part of theBritish Eighth Army, which in July 1945 was re-constituted asBritish Troops in Austria (BTA), had their headquarters in Klagenfurt - as Carinthia, together with neighbouring Styria, formed part of the British occupation zone in liberated Austria, which remained to be the case until 26 October 1955.
In 1961, Klagenfurt became the first city in Austria to adopt apedestrian zone. The idea of a friendly twinning of cities in other countries began with the first city partnership between Klagenfurt andWiesbaden, Germany, as early as 1930. This was followed up by numerous city partnerships, with the result that in 1968, Klagenfurt was honoured with the title of "European City of the Year". Klagenfurt has also been awarded the prestigiousEuropa Nostra Diploma of Merit (an award for the exemplary restoration and redevelopment of its ancient centre) a total of three times, which is a record for a European city.
In 1973, Klagenfurt absorbed four more adjacent municipalities: Viktring, with itsgrand Cistercian monastery; Wölfnitz; Hörtendorf; and St. Peter am Bichl. The addition of these municipalities increased the population of Klagenfurt to about 90,000.
The city of Klagenfurt is in southern Austria, near the border with Slovenia. It is in the lower middle of Austria, almost the same distance fromInnsbruck in the west as it is fromVienna in the northeast.
Klagenfurt is elevated 446 metres (1,463 feet)above sea level and covers an area of 120.03 square kilometres (46+3⁄8 sq mi). It is on the lakeWörthersee and on theGlan river. The city is surrounded by several forest covered hills and mountains, with heights of up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) (for exampleUlrichsberg). To the south of the city is theKarawankenmountain range, which separates Carinthia from bordering nations ofSlovenia andItaly.
Klagenfurt is astatutory city of Carinthia, and the administrative seat of the district ofKlagenfurt-Land, but is a separate district from Klagenfurt-Land. In fact, theirlicence plates are different (K for the city, KL for the district). Klagenfurt is divided itself into 16 districts:
It is further divided into 25Katastralgemeinden. They are: Klagenfurt, Blasendorf, Ehrenthal, Goritschitzen, Großbuch, Großponfeld, Gurlitsch I, Hallegg, Hörtendorf, Kleinbuch, Lendorf, Marolla, Nagra, Neudorf, St. Martin bei Klagenfurt, St. Peter am Karlsberg, St. Peter bei Ebenthal, Sankt Peter am Bichl, St. Ruprecht bei Klagenfurt, Stein, Tentschach, Viktring, Waidmannsdorf, Waltendorf, and Welzenegg.
Klagenfurt has a typicalhumid continental climate (KöppenDfb,TrewarthaDcbo), with a fair amount of fog throughout the autumn and winter, which occurs in 106 days annually.[21] Summers are warm and wet, with frequent thunderstorms which happen in 43.8 days on average. Klagenfurt experiences 70.9 days annually with maximum temperature at or above 25 °C (77 °F), and 18.8 days in which the maximum temperature reaches 30 °C (86 °F).[22] The rather cold winters are broken up by occasional warmer periods due tofoehn wind from the Karawanken mountains to the south. On 52.9 days the depth of snow cover is at or above 1 cm (0.39 in), with 10.1 days having more than 20 cm (7.9 in) of snow depth.[22] The average temperature from 1961 to 1990 was 7.1 °C (44.8 °F), while the average temperature in 1991-2020 period is 9.9 °C (49.8 °F).
Climate data for Klagenfurt (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1961-2025, humidity and dew point 1961-1990)
In 2019, there were around 20,000 people who were born outside the country living in Klagenfurt, corresponding to around 20% of the city's population. The majority of immigrants come from the Balkans and Germany.
Klagenfurt is the economic centre of Carinthia, with 20% of the industrial companies. In May 2001, there were 63,618 employees in 6,184 companies here. 33 of these companies employed more than 200 people. The prevalent economic sectors arelight industry, electronics, andtourism. There are also several printing offices.
The most important market place in Klagenfurt since 1948 is Benedikterplatz, formerly known as Herzogplatz. There is a market at Benediktenplatz twice a week with a diverse selection of food available for sale.
As well as the historical market, there are severalshopping centres in Klagenfurt. TheCity-Arkaden shopping centre, founded in 2006, is located at the northern part of the city centre. The shopping centre has 120 businesses in a total floor area of 30 thousand square metres, and is one of the largest shopping centres in Carinthia. At the time of its foundation, it was one of the first shopping centres with a central arcade in the entire country of Austria.
The second-largest shopping centre in the city isSüdpark [de], founded in 1998 and located near the Klagenfurt central station.
The lines shown are valid from the December 2025 timetable.[32]
The city is situated at the intersection of the A2 and S37 motorways. The A2 autobahn runs fromVienna viaGraz and Klagenfurt toVillach and further to the state border of Italy. The S37 freeway runs from Vienna viaBruck an der Mur andSankt Veit an der Glan to Klagenfurt. TheLoibl Pass highway B91 goes toLjubljana, the capital ofSlovenia, which is only 88 km (55 mi) from Klagenfurt.
The volume of traffic in Klagenfurt is high (motorisation level: 572 cars/1000 inhabitants in 2007).[33] Service onthe city's streetcar (tram) system, as well as itstrolleybus system, ended in April 1963.[34] In the 1960s, Klagenfurt was meant to become a car-friendly city, with many wide roads. A motorway was even planned which was to cross the city partly underground, but which now by-passes the city to the north. The problem of four railway lines from north, west, south, and east meeting at the central station south of the city centre and strangulating city traffic has been eased by a considerable number of underpasses on the main arteries. Nevertheless, despite 28bus lines,traffic jams are frequent nowadays as in most cities of similar size. Ideas of a rapidtransport system using the existing railway rails, of an elevatedcable railway to the football stadium, or of a regular motorboat service on the Lend Canal from the city centre to the lake have not materialized. But for those who fancy leisurely travel there is a regular motorboat and steamer service on the lake connecting the resorts on Wörthersee. During severe winters, which no longer occur regularly, it might be faster to cross the frozen lake on skates.
There is acivic theatre-cum-opera house with professional companies, a professional symphony orchestra, a university of music and a concert hall. There are musical societies such as Musikverein (founded in 1826) or Mozartgemeinde, a privateexperimental theatre company, theState Museum for Carinthia, a modern art museum and the Diocesan museum ofreligious art; the Artists' House, two municipal and several private galleries, a planetarium inEuropa Park, literary institutions such as theRobert Musil House, and a reputable German-literature competition awarding the prestigiousIngeborg Bachmann Prize.
Klagenfurt is the home of a number of small but finepublishing houses, and several papers or regional editions are also published here including dailies such asKleine Zeitung andKärntner Krone.
Klagenfurt is a popular vacation spot, with mountains both to the south and north, numerous parks and a series of 23 stately homes and castles on its outskirts. In summer, the city is home to the Altstadtzauber (The Magic of the Old City) festival.
SeveralCarinthian Slovene cultural and political associations are also based in the city, including theHermagoras Society, the oldest Slovene publishing house founded in Klagenfurt in 1851.[35]
The city is home to theUniversity of Klagenfurt and hosts a campus of the Fachhochschule Kärnten (Carinthia University of Applied Sciences), a college of education for primary and secondaryteacher training andfurther education of teachers as well as a college of general further education (VHS) and two institutions of further professional andvocational education (WIFI and BFI). Among other Austrian educational institutions, there is aSlovene languageGymnasium (established in 1957) and a Slovene language commercial high school.
Theice hockey teamEC KAC (Eishockey Club Klagenfurter Athletiksport Club) has won the top level Austrian Championship 30 times since its founding in 1909.
Klagenfurt hosts the Start/Finish of the AustrianIronman Contest,3.8 km (2+3⁄8 mi) swim, 180 km (112 mi) cycling, and a 42 km (26 mi) run, part of the WTC Ironman series, which culminates in the Hawaii World Championships.[44]
Klagenfurt hosted three games during theUEFA Euro 2008 in the recently rebuiltWörthersee Stadion. Klagenfurt was also a contender for the2006 Winter Olympics and is home to anAmerican football team, the Carinthian Black Lions, competing in the First League of the Austrian Football League. The Black Lions[46] attract fans from all over Carinthia, playing home games in both Klagenfurt and Villach.
^Landesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1:Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.(link)
^Eberhard Kranzmayer,Ortsnamenbuch von Kärnten. Part II, Klagenfurt 1958, p. 119.
^abcDieter Jandl, A Brief History of Klagenfurt, revised edition, Klagenfurt 2007
^abHeinz-Dieter Pohl,Kärnten. Deutsche und slowenische Namen/Koroška. Slovenska in nemška imena. In:Österreichische Namenforschung 28 (2000), vols. 2–3, Klagenfurt 2000
^Paul Gleirscher,Wie Aquiliu zu Klagenfurt wurde. In: Paul Gleirscher,Mystisches Kärnten. Sagenhaftes, Verborgenes, Ergrabenes, Klagenfurt 2007.
^Josef Rausch,Der Partisanenkampf in Kärnten im Zweiten Weltkrieg (=Militärhistorische Schriftenreihe 39/40), Vienna 1979; August Walzl,Kärnten 1945, p. 127, 156
^August Walzl,Kärnten 1946. Vom NS-Regime zur Besatzungsherrschaft im Alpen-Adria-Raum. Klagenfurt: Universitätsverlag Carinthia 1985,ISBN3-85378-235-3, p. 117
^August Walzl,Kärnten 1946, p. 176f, p. 194. All the Western sources agree on that date, contrary to Yugoslav or Slovene sources. Karel Pušnik-Gašper and others,Gemsen auf der Lawine. Der Partisanenkampf in Kärnten, Klagenfurt: Drava 1980, pp.305 ff., still claims that Yugoslav partisan forces liberated Klagenfurt on 7 May, disarming the last Hitler units. Similarly, theBulgarian publicationOtecestvenata vojna na Bulgarija 1944–1945, Sofia 1965, vol. 3, p. 258 writes of the plans for an advance as far as Klagenfurt and Villach. This advance, however, came to a halt atLavamünd, cf. Walzl,Kärnten 1945, pp. 178 f., 225 f., 241.
^Zbornik dokumentov in podatkov v narodno osvobodilni vojni jugoslovanskih narodov. Part 6, vol. 12, Ljubljana 1953–1965, pp. 493 ff.
^Photos in August Walzl,Kärnten 1945, pp. 326, 327
^Report ofField Marshal Alexander to the Combined Chief of Staffs of 15 May 1945 WO 202/319/040927 (Public Record Office London:War Office, unpublished), in: Walzl,Kärnten 1945, p. 224
Nikolai Tolstoy,The Klagenfurt Conspiracy. War crimes & diplomatic secrets, in:Encounter vol. 60 (1983) no. 5
Anthony Cowgill,Christopher Booker et al.,Interim Report on an Enquiry into the Repatriation of Surrendered Enemy Personnel to The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia from Austria in May 1945 and The Alleged 'Klagenfurt Conspiracy',Stroud, Gloucestershire, Royal United Service Institute for Defence Studies, 1988ISBN0-9514029-0-0
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