Feldkirchen

for August 18

The Bamberger Amthof: Former administrative headquarters, today the cultural center of the town of Feldkirchen, also houses the museum(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

Millennia-old exhibits and exciting areas of life from past decades can be discovered at the Amthof Museum in Feldkirchen.

The Bamberg ministerials once had their official residence there, today the old walls house a lot of culture and offer a meeting place: in addition to a café, gallery, music school, rehearsal rooms for clubs, festive halls and workshop rooms, the Amthof also houses the Amthof Cultural Forum and the town museum.

And this is a reminder of 6000 years of history, as people settled around what is now Feldkirchen as early as the Copper Age, and there was a settlement on the Krahkogel from the 9th to 4th centuries BC, from which pottery fragments have been preserved. The Celts settled here in the third century BC, followed by the Romans in 15 BC, who had their cemetery in today's Bahnhofstraße.

The tin bottle with the fabric stopper from the 15th century was discovered in the rubble in the Maria im Dorn church. It depicts the Epiphany on one side and St. George on the other. It was probably a drinking bottle for horsemen.

Brigitte Ponta-Zitterer, Museumsobfrau

"We have many Roman finds," says Brigitte Ponta-Zitterer, chairwoman of the museum association, such as parts of a wall heater and bowl weights with the inscription Castoris, a primitive measure from the Temple of Castor and Polux in the Forum Romanum. "These weights probably came with the military," says Ponta-Zitterer, who also juxtaposes a reddish bowl from the Sarius pottery in northern Italy, glazed tableware from the Rhineland and gray local ceramics.

Brigitte Ponta-Zitterer: "A scrap of fabric serves as a stopper for this pewter bottle."(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

The gravestone that was placed on Valeria, one of the first Christian women in this region in the 5th/6th century, can also be seen in the Amthof Museum: Emblazoned on it is the staurogram standing for Christ, a P with a cross crossbar. Many things have not changed over the course of time, such as tools for weaving or whetstones.

Iron document chest - once owned by the Raunikar family.(Bild: Christina Natascha Kogler)

Slavs founded the Principality of Carantania in 626, which was transformed into a Bavarian county in 817. The Bavarians established a military camp, which had a church in the field - the name was transferred to Feldkirchen, which was first mentioned in 1162.

The Bamberg theme area should not be missed in Feldkirchen: Emperor Henry II and his wife Kunigunde founded the German bishopric of Bamberg in 1007, which acquired possessions in Carinthia: parts of the Lavant Valley, Villach and the surrounding area, the Canal Valley and Feldkirchen were Bambergian - until it was sold to the Habsburgs in 1759.

Information for visitors

The Amthof Museum in the Feldkirchner Amthof at Amthofgasse 5 is open until mid-September; Monday to Sunday 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 6 pm.

Group tours by appointment on 0 42 76/ 21 76 at the tourist office.

Admission: 3 euros, in groups 2 euros, free admission with the Summer Carinthia Card

"Feldkirchen became a Biedermeier town because a town fire in 1834 damaged numerous facades of the houses, some of which had existed since the 16th century," says art historian Ponta-Zitterer, who works at the Carinthia Museum.

In addition to exhibits from the Raunikar distillery and the Blaas linen weaving mill, the museum also focuses on the Tiebel mills, which were once so important for the economy, iron processing and Feldkirchen artists.

In addition, the history of the deaconry in Waiern is currently on display: "150 years in the service of humanity".