Viktring#

Viktring, Carinthia, district, alt. 454 m, 13th district and cadastral municipality of Klagenfurt, residential area in the south of Klagenfurt, at the foot of Goritschnig mountain (683 m), incorporated within the boundaries of the town in 1973. - Gymnasium secondary school (in the former abbey), multipurpose sports hall, municipal centre; printing office, mill, sports articles production, technology park with small enterprises. - Documented 890-982 under the name of Vitrino (Celtic = billet field), later as Vitring. Important former Cistercian abbey founded in 1142 by Bernhard of Sponheim, consecrated in 1202, closed in 1786, one of the wealthiest abbeys in Carinthia in the Middle Ages, its best-known abbot, Johann of Viktring, is regarded as one of the major medieval historians; Romanesque abbey church (today the parish church) built on the model of Burgundian churches, the only example of its kind east of the River Rhine; the nave was shortened by half its length in 1847; parts of the abbey church altered during the late Gothic period, the south portal is Romanesque, Gothic stained glass panels in the windows at the eastern end of the chancel (around 1400), early Baroque high altar (1622, one of the biggest in Carinthia); parts of the cloister preserved in the former abbey buildings, 2 arcaded courts and large banqueting hall (1st third of the 18th century); late Gothic prelacy (today presbytery); late Gothic baptistery (around 1500); St. Bernhard chapel with marble altar (1710); abbey complex surrounded by a wide moat. The district of Viktring includes the settlement of Stein (Baroque parish church from 1778).

Literature#