Klagenfurt

Legend says Klagenfurt was founded after brave men killed a winged lindworm that lived in the marshes by the lake, baiting it with a bull on a chain and hook; a village grew up on the spot. In fact the Spanheim dukes of Carinthia founded a stronghold here across the trade routes, first mentioned in the late 12th century as a market called "Chlagenvurth". The site flooded so often that in 1246 Duke Bernhard von Spanheim moved it to safer ground, and the new market town received a city charter in 1252.

Fires, earthquakes, locusts, Ottoman raids and peasant wars followed. After a fire almost destroyed the town in 1514, Emperor Maximilian I, unable to rebuild it, handed Klagenfurt to the Carinthian Estates in 1518 over the citizens' protests. The nobles made it their capital: they dug a canal to the lake to bring timber, laid out new streets on a Renaissance chequerboard plan, built town houses, the Landhaus and a large Protestant church that is now the cathedral, and set up the dragon fountain. Napoleon's troops pulled down most of the walls in 1809. Railways arrived from 1863, and in the 19th century the city became an important centre of Slovene culture, where the Hermagoras Society publishing house was founded in 1851.

In 1919 forces of the new South Slav kingdom occupied the city, withdrawing after the Carinthian plebiscite of October 1920. Neighbouring municipalities were merged into the city in 1938, and in the Second World War 41 bombing raids killed 612 people. British troops entered on 8 May 1945, and Klagenfurt became the headquarters of the British forces in Austria. In 1961 it opened Austria's first pedestrian zone, in 1973 it absorbed Viktring and three other municipalities, and in 2007 it took the official name Klagenfurt am Wörthersee.

Klagenfurt is considered the cultural centre of the Carinthian Slovenes, one of Austria's indigenous minorities. The Hermagoras Society, the oldest Slovene publishing house, returned here in 1947, and the city has a Slovene-language gymnasium, opened in 1957, a Slovene commercial high school and several Slovene cultural and political associations. Its Slovene name is Celovec.

Literature has a special place. Robert Musil was born here, and every year the city hosts the Festival of German-Language Literature, televised live since 1977, whose main award, the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, honours one of the most distinguished Austrian writers. The city also has a theatre and opera house, a professional symphony orchestra, the Gustav Mahler University of Music, the Musikverein founded in 1826, galleries and several small publishing houses; regional daily newspapers are published here.

Sport runs through the calendar. EC KAC, founded in 1909, has won more Austrian ice hockey championships than any other club; Austria Klagenfurt plays football at the Wörthersee Stadion, which hosted three matches at Euro 2008; and the Ironman Austria triathlon starts and finishes in the city. In summer the Altstadtzauber festival fills the old town, and the World Bodypainting Festival draws artists from many countries.

About 106,000 people lived in Klagenfurt at the start of 2026, making it Austria's sixth-largest city. Around a fifth of residents were born abroad, most of them in the Balkans or Germany. As capital of Carinthia and seat of the Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt it is an administrative city, home to the state government and parliament, the University of Klagenfurt and a campus of the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences.

It is also Carinthia's economic centre, with about a fifth of the province's industrial companies; light industry, electronics, printing and tourism are the main sectors, and the Lakeside Science and Technology Park stands beside the university. Shopping is split between the old town and malls such as City-Arkaden, opened in 2006 at the northern edge of the centre. The city was planned for the car in the 1960s, its trams and trolleybuses were withdrawn in 1963, car ownership is high, and traffic jams are common.

Life follows the seasons. In summer the lido and the lakeshore fill after work, and the canal path is busy with cyclists; in winter the basin is often wrapped in fog. The market on Benediktinerplatz sets the rhythm of the week for many households.

Carinthian cooking leans on grain, dairy and meat, and the many lakes put fish on the menu. Kärntner Kasnudeln, the province's best-known dish, are pockets of noodle dough filled with quark and mint; Schlickkrapfen are smaller pockets, mainly with a meat filling. Klachlsuppe is a soup of pig's trotters, and Reindling is a yeast-dough cake filled with cinnamon, sugar, walnuts and raisins.

The market on Benediktinerplatz, the city's main market place since 1948, is the place to see local produce, and in its indoor hall stalls serve traditional Austrian dishes. Around the Alter Platz and in the old town lanes the inns and cafés serve Kasnudeln, lake fish and Austrian standards.

In the surrounding countryside, as across Carinthia and Styria, country taverns called Buschenschanken serve local wine and cold platters. Most, the fresh juice of apples or grapes, is made here, and after the grape harvest people drink Sturm, a semi-fermented grape juice.