!!!Villach
Villach, Carinthia, chartered town in the district of Villach, alt.
501 m, pop. 54,640, area 134.82 km%%sup 2/%, second-largest
town in Carinthia, lying at the foot of Dobratsch Mountain at the
confluence of the rivers Gail and Drau/Drava; important road and
railway junction; spa town, Warmbad Villach medicinal bath (thermal
springs containing radon, 28-30° C) in the cadastral
municipality of Judendorf; wharf (Drau shipping company). - District
Commission, district court, district command of the rural police
(gendarmerie), district school inspectorate, federal police
headquarters, Henselkaserne, Lutschonigkaserne and Rohr-Kaserne army
barracks, forestry office (regulation of mountain torrents, avalanche
break structures), water administration and road construction offices,
district office of the agricultural authority, St. Ulrich bridge
administration office, employment services, inland revenue office,
office of weights, measures and surveying, customs office, office of
the Economic Chamber, office of the Chamber of Labour, office of the
Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry, office of the regional health
insurance agency, hospital, sanatoria, centre for social services and
counselling, office offering assistance to foreigners, Kolpinghaus
centre, probation office, Protestant youth hostel, Catholic youth and
education centre, schools: Fachhochschule, 2 Bundesgymnasium and one
Bundesrealgymnasium secondary schools, Bundesgymnasium secondary
school for employed persons, commercial academy, advanced-level
commercial school, advanced-level school for crafts and trades, upper
secondary school of engineering, advanced-level school for tourism,
vocational schools for business and commerce, vocational preparatory
school; Austrian Information Service for Development Policy (OeIE),
city library by the Chamber of Labour, job information centre,
Vocational Training Institute of the Austrian Federation of Trade
Unions (BFI), adult education centre, multipurpose hall, public
gardens, congress centre, Villach theatre studio, motor vehicles
museum, ornithological station for predatory birds (Landskron castle
ruins), ice rink, summer toboggan course, St. Martin multipurpose
sports hall; spa centre with therapy station at the thermal baths,
therapy centre with thermal spring pool, congress centre, golf course;
ORF (Austrian radio and television) transmitting station on Dobratsch
mountain, gasworks, waterworks, regional headquarters of KELAG,
Oesterreichische Fernwaerme Ges. m. b. H. (district
heating company with 7 plants), district heating plant Villach, river
power station Villach (built 1983, 24.6 megawatt). Of the 29,221
gainfully employed persons (figures from 1991), around 70% work in the
service sector (mainly personal, social and public services, wholesale
and retail trade, transport); summer and spa tourism (1,147,109
overnight stays in 1992); electrotechnical and electrical industries
(computer chips), chemical industry, food and beverages industry,
building and construction trade, wood processing; - During the Roman
Era there was a road station ("Santicum") in Villach in late
Antiquity, Villach had a castellet with an early Christian cult
building, documented mention in 878 ("pons Uillah"),
documented as a town in 1240, under ownership of the diocese of
Bamberg from 1007 to 1759, acquired by Austria, destroyed by
earthquakes in 1348 and 1690. Important woodcarving and painting
workshop ( Thomas von Villach), at its economic peak in the late
15%%sup th/% and in the 16%%sup th/% centuries owing to trade and
mining, from 1864 renewed economic upswing owing to railway
construction, very severely damaged during the Second World War, in
1973 extension of the town borders to Lakes Faak and Ossiach. - Late
Gothic parish church of the provincial capital with late Gothic
portals, St. Christopher fresco (15%%sup th/% century) by Thomas von
Villach on the chancel wall, high altar with rich Rococo carvings and
late Gothic crucifix (1502), graves from the late Gothic and
Renaissance, Renaissance pulpit; late Baroque pilgrimage church at
Heiligenkreuz (1726-1738) with Baroque interior; town parish churches:
Trinity church (1967), St. Martin church (probably 979, re-erected
after it collapsed in 1962, wooden relief of a Madonna of Mercy,
around 1510), St. Nikolai church (Gothic Revival 1892/93); Gothic
St. John church; former castle (16%%sup th/% - 17%%sup th/%
century); new town hall (1951-1953) replacing the old one (in the
former Khevenhueller Palace) which was destroyed in 1944, town museum
(in Crusiz Palace, 16%%sup th/% century, façade from 1873,
Renaissance portal moved to museum in 1971, old town walls with
reconstructed defensive passage along top of wall, archaeological
collection, samples of medieval panel painting); some houses on the
main square with Gothic central elements, some of them from the
16%%sup th/% - 17%%sup th/% century; numerous courtyards with
Renaissance column arcades (e.g. Paracelsushof); Holy Trinity column
(1606, extended in 1713); Moertenegg palace (2%%sup nd/% half of the
16%%sup th/% century), Werthenau palace (around 1625); Federaun and
Landskron castle ruins. In the town area, parish church of St.
Rupprecht (Romanesque core) with late Gothic vault and frescoes,
extended in the 18%%sup th/% century; parish church of St. Leonhard
with Gothic chancel (rest dated 1947), cycle of frescoes (around
1380), Baroque statues; St. Magdalen filial church (around 1800) with
Baroque altar; Maria Gail parish and pilgrimage church, former chancel
tower church from the 15%%sup th/% century with frescoes and winged
altar-piece (around 1520); filial churches in Obere Fellach and
Oberschuett (altars from the 18%%sup th/% century); Romanesque filial
church near the ruins of castle Landskron, Gothic winged altar-piece
(16%%sup th/% century).
!Literature
G. Moro, Geschichte der Stadt Villach, 1940; W. Neumann
(supervision), 900 Jahre Villach, 1960; A. Kreuzer, Villach, 1985;
Magistrat of the town of Villach (ed.), Statistisches Jahrbuch der
Stadt Villach 1990/91, 1992.
%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Villach|class='wikipage austrian']
%%
[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]