!!!Friesach

Friesach, Carinthia, town in the district of St. Veit an der 
Glan, alt. 634 m, pop. 5,616, area 120.8 km%%sup 2/%, oldest town in 
Carinthia, situated on the Metnitz River near the Styrian border and 
on the foothills of the Gurktal Alps. - Forestry District Office, 
branch office of the Youth Office, city museum (in the keep of the 
ruins of Petersberg Castle), Hospital of the Teutonic Order, convent 
of the Dominicans, St.-Hemma-Haus centre of the Carinthian Caritas 
Association (Dominicans), recreation centre, Friesach Burghof 
festival. The service sector is especially well developed (63 % of 
employed persons in 1991, primarily private, social and public 
services); production sector: metal processing (sawmill machinery and 
equipment, gates and portals), textile industry (sports clothes and 
traditional Austrian costumes, linen weaving mill), pasta factory, 
some tourism. - Place name is of Slavic origin, first documented 
mention in 860, in the possession of the Archbishops of Salzburg until 
1803, first mentioned as town in 1265. Friesach is one of Austria's 
gems of art history: city fortifications (late 13%%sup th/%  century) 
with battlemented wall (mostly preserved); Romanesque-Gothic city 
parish church (12%%sup th/%  and 14%%sup th/%  century) with 
stained-glass windows (wise and foolish virgins, 1270/80) and scenes 
from the life of Christ (around 1325/30); Church of the Teutonic Order 
(13%%sup th/%  century, redesigned in 1492) with Romanesque frescoes; 
Dominican church (1251-1255) with Madonna (14%%sup th/%  century) and 
Dominican monastery (oldest Dominican monastery in the German-speaking 
area, built in 1217 and 1673); Dominican convent (since 1887, 
originally Hospital of the Teutonic Order); Renaissance city fountain 
(1563) in the main square; old city hall with Roman grave; fortress on 
Petersberg hill (11%%sup th/% /12%%sup th/%  century), largely in 
ruins, keep (city museum) and castle chapel with Romanesque frescoes; 
Church of St. Peter, in Romanesque-Gothic and Baroque styles; 
Gothic Church of St. Salvator with stained-glass windows (14%%sup th/% 
 century) and late Baroque interior; Lavant Castle ruins (first 
mentioned in a document in 1293); Geiersberg fortress (around 1130, 
partially restored); church ruins on Virgilienberg mountain. In 
Gaisberg (village north of Friesach at the foot of Gaisberg mountain, 
alt. 1,153 m) Gothic-Baroque parish church (first documented mention 
in 1283) with Romanesque remains and 18 stained-glass windows (around 
1420-1430), wall paintings (15%%sup th/%  century), high altar (around 
1680).

!Literature
H. Braumueller, Geschichte der Stadt Friesach, 1926; R. 
Gratzer, Friesach, 1986.


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