!!!Zollfeld

Zollfeld Plain, Carinthia, part of the Klagenfurt Basin, extended 
valley plain (10 km) of the River Glan between Klagenfurt and St. 
Veit, interspersed with small woods, hills and some swamps; old 
cultural landscape, political, religious and cultural centre of 
Carinthia for many centuries. The "Holy Mountains", parts of 
which were once sites of pagan cults, today the destination of the  
Vierberge-Wallfahrt (Four-mountain pilgrimage), surround the Zollfeld 
Plain:  Ulrichsberg Mountain in the south,  Magdalensberg Mountain 
(Helenenberg) in the east,  Goesseberg Mountain (also called 
Veitsberg) and  Lorenziberg Mountain in the north.  Maria Saalis 
situated on the southern edge of Zollfeld Plain. Documented mention of 
the name "Zollfeld" around the year 1000.

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The Zollfeld Plain was already densely settled in early history. First 
known settlements belonged to the Hallstatt period, a prehistoric 
fortified castle with a rampart was located on Maria Saal Mountain. 
Later the Celts followed; on Magdalensberg mountain there was a 
Celtic/early Roman settlement with an area of about 
2.5 km%%sup 2/%. North of Maria Saal the Romans built Claudium, 
the capital of the province of Noricum,  Virunum. Traces of 2 early 
Christian one-aisled churches have been excavated on nearby 
Gratzerkogel hill (503 m). After the migration of the Germanic 
peoples, the population reverted to pagan cults. Bishop Modestus 
christianised the region again for Salzburg and founded a church at 
Maria Saal around 750. A Carolingian residence at  Karnburg 
(documented mention 888) was established around 830. After it had 
finally been separated from Bavaria, Carinthia became an independent 
duchy in 976. 2 important monuments from that time, referring to the 
appointment of the Carinthian dukes, have been preserved on the 
Zollfeld Plain: the  Herzogstuhl and the  Fuerstenstein (today 
exhibited in the Carinthian Provincial Museum in Klagenfurt).

!Literature
S. Hartwagner, Das Zollfeld, 1957; W. Neumann, Der 
Kaerntner Herzogstuhl im Wandel der Geschichte, 1985.


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