Maria Saal

Maria Saal stands on a hill above the Zollfeld, the plain that held the Roman city of Virunum, and the church walls are studded with Roman gravestones and reliefs taken from the ruins and set into the masonry - including a well-known relief of a chariot - so the building carries its predecessor visibly. The church was a missionary base from the eighth century, was fortified against Ottoman raids with a wall and towers, and is late Gothic inside with baroque altars. Below on the Zollfeld stand the Herzogstuhl, a stone seat assembled from Roman blocks where Carinthian dukes were installed, and further off the Fürstenstein, the prince's stone used in the Slovene-language enthronement ritual that is documented from the Middle Ages. An open-air museum of Carinthian farm buildings sits nearby.

History

The Zollfeld plain has been a centre since Celtic times, and after Noricum became a Roman province Emperor Claudius founded its capital, Virunum, at the foot of the Magdalensberg, later the seat of a bishop. Slavic tribes who came around 590 made Karnburg nearby the centre of their principality of Carantania, where princes were installed on the Prince's Stone, the base of a Roman column from Virunum, and after Bavaria brought Carantania under its rule around 743 a German ceremony at the Duke's Chair, which still stands near Maria Saal, was added. Around 767 Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg sent the missionary Modestus, who built the first church of the Assumption here as the base of his mission, first recorded in 860 as S. Maria ad Carantanum, from which Christianity spread through Carantania (Wikipedia, Maria Saal).

Highlights

• Roman stones in the walls - gravestones and reliefs from Virunum built into the church.
• A fortified pilgrimage church - walled and towered against Ottoman raids.
• The Herzogstuhl - the ducal stone seat on the Zollfeld below.
• An open-air farm museum - Carinthian rural buildings re-erected nearby.

When to go

April to October; the open-air museum is seasonal. Half a day.

Things to know

The church is active and services take priority. The Herzogstuhl stands in an open field with little interpretation on site. The open-air museum charges separately and closes in winter.

Nearby

Klagenfurt is south; the Magdalensberg excavations are east.