Visites · Klagenfurt · square
Altes Rathaus / Alter Platz
The oldest square in Klagenfurt and the medieval heart from which the whole city grew, watched over by the sunny facade of the Old Town Hall and a lofty plague column.
À propos de ce lieu
Alter Platz, the Old Square, is where Klagenfurt began. Its long, gently curving space forms the medieval core of a settlement that took shape in the thirteenth century, after Duke Bernhard von Spanheim granted the town its rights in 1252. Today it is entirely free of cars, having become Austria's very first pedestrian zone in 1961, and it is lined with beautifully preserved Baroque and Renaissance houses and hidden arcaded courtyards. The square's dominant landmark is the Altes Rathaus, or Old Town Hall, a glowing city palace built in the seventeenth century by the noble Welzer family over an older core. It served as the seat of the town council from 1737 until the administration moved to a new home in 1918. Above its grand portal a fresco of Justitia, the goddess of justice, presides beside the coats of arms of Klagenfurt and Carinthia, while a three storey arcaded courtyard hides within. Nearby rises the Dreifaltigkeitssaule, a Trinity plague column first raised in 1680 in gratitude for the city being spared from the plague, and relocated to this square in 1965.
À retenir
- 1252 year — Duke Bernhard von Spanheim granted the town rights that gave rise to this square
- 1961 year — Alter Platz opened as the very first pedestrian zone in all of Austria
- 1680 year — The Trinity plague column was first raised, before being moved here in 1965
📍 Wiener Gasse 1, 9020, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee