Maria Worth

Maria Wörth occupies a promontory reaching into the Wörthersee that was an island until the lake level was lowered, and two churches stand on it. The parish church, the larger, is Gothic over an eleventh-century Romanesque crypt holding the relics of Chrysanth and Daria, with a baroque high altar and a churchyard ringed by an old wall. The smaller Winterkirche, the winter church, is Romanesque with a fresco of the apostles from around 1100 and was used in cold months because it could be heated. A round charnel house stands beside them. The whole group on its wooded point above the water is the image the Wörthersee is sold on, and the churches are among the most booked wedding venues in Austria, which affects when you can get in.

What you actually see

• A church promontory - a former island reaching into the Wörthersee.
• A Romanesque crypt - eleventh-century, under the Gothic parish church.
• The Winterkirche fresco - apostles painted around 1100 in the smaller church.
• A round charnel house - the ossuary standing beside the two churches.

When to go

May to September; weekdays to avoid weddings. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Weddings close the churches for long stretches at weekends in summer. Parking on the promontory is very limited. The village is small and crowded in season.

Nearby

Velden and Pörtschach are around the lake; Klagenfurt is east.