Pörtschach am Wörthersee

Pörtschach am Wörther See
Pörtschach am Wörther See
Country	Austria
State	Carinthia
District	Klagenfurt-Land
Mayor	Franz Arnold
Area	16.21 km2 (6 sq mi)
Elevation	461 m  (1513 ft)
Population	2,650 (1 January 2011)
- Density	163 /km2 (423 /sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal code	9210
Area code	04272
Website	www.poertschach.at

Pörtschach am Wörthersee (Slovene: Poreče), or Poertschach, is a town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia in south central Austria.

It is the site of an annual tennis tournament, the Hypo Group Tennis International, which is part of the ATP Tour's International Series.

Geography

Geographical position

Pörtschach is situated at 446–702 metres (1,463–2,303 ft) above mean sea level, on the northern shore of the Lake Woerth, about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) west of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt.

Pörtschach's municipality escutcheon in front of the municipal office

Poertschach train station

Structure of the community

The community territory is subdivided into the two cadastral communities of Pörtschach at the Lake Woerth (Poreče ob jezeru) and Sallach. Unique locality of the community is Pörtschach on the Lake Woerth.

Neighbour communities

Pörtschach's neighbour communities include Moosburg to the north, Techelsberg to the west, Krumpendorf to the east and Maria Wörth to the south.

History

Pre-celtic and celtic period

Basin stone at the cross-road of the Saint-Oswalder-street with the Goritschach lane

Basin stones most presumably come from the stone age which still can be seen in many parts of Carinthia. There is also one to be visited in the community territory of Pörtschach. The location is directly by the Saint-Oswalder-street, at the cross-road with the Goritschach lane, just close to a basswood-tree with a park-bench and next to a wooden cross. During the cultic ceremony the sacrifice donation, most probably blood, was filled into the little basin hole of the rock.

Antiquity and Middle Ages

According to findings the Noric mainroad from Velden to Krumpendorf already led across the community territory in the Roman period. About in the year 600 a settlement was founded by Slavic tribes, due to the onomastic ("porecah" = "at the people who live by the brook"). In the year 1150 Pörtschach was first vouched. In those days the lake castle was set up, of which little else than some skimpy wall-rests remains to this day.

The nearby Leonstain castle had fallen into disrepair by the later twentieth century, but it has recently benefitted from a restoration programme. Around the year 1490 the château Leonstain was erected close to Pörtschach's center. Today a part of the castle has been reborn as a hotel, owned by the Neuscheller family.

Modern times

A growing tourism industry started in the mid-19th century, accelerating after the establishment of the Lake Woerth navy in 1853. Shortly after that, in 1864, Pörtschach received a railway station on the new line from Vienna towards Venice: this made it a favoured tourist destination. Famous tourists from Vienna included Emperor Franz Joseph I, Gustav Mahler and Johannes Brahms who worked on his second symphony here. After the tourism boom years in Carinthia of the 1960s and 1970s, a revival in Pörtschach as an events centre is under way. The goal is to develop a "soft tourism", which is the best outlook for the future, because Pörtschach has the qualification for that: culture (International Johannes Brahms Competition), nature and history.

Population

According to the population census in 2001 the community Pörtschach has 2670 inhabitants. 90.3 % have Austrian citizenship, the biggest groups among the foreign nationalities are Croatians (3.0 %), Germans (2.3 %) and Bosnia-Herzegovinians (1.3 %).

In terms of religion, the majority of the people are Roman Catholics (75%), followed by 10% Protestants and 1.6% Muslims. About 10% of the people are without confession.

Lake villas

The most important representant of the Lake Woerth-architecture was Franz Baumgartner. Listed below is a selection of his permanent producing:

• 

  Villa Wladimir Turkovic (1913), Werftenstraße 57

• 

  Villa Stefanie Turkovic (1913), Werftenstraße 73

Famous people from Pörtschach

Johannes Brahms-bust at the castle hotel Leonstein

• Johannes Brahms
• Wilhelm Loisel
• Carl Ernst David Wahliss
• Georg Graber
• Josef Tichy

Literature

• Österreichische Kunst-Topographie. (Austrian art topography) Volume I.: Herzogthum Karnten (Dutchy Carinthia), Wien 1889, S. 284; in Commission bei Kubasta & Voigt, of the K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei.
• DEHIO Kärnten - Topographisches Denkmälerinventar (Topografic monument inventory), S. 636-644. Editorial Anton Schroll & Co, Wien 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X
• Kärntner Sagen (Carinthian sagas), a selection by Dr. Georg Graber, 1949; S. 50-52, Kärntner Heimatverlag (Carinthian homeland editorial).
• Die Kärntner Gemeindewappen (The Carinthian community coat of arms) by Dr. Wilhelm Deuer, S. 216-217; Klagenfurt 2006, Editorial of the Carinthian country archive, ISBN 3-900531-64-1

External links

• Pörtschach on the Lake Woerth
• English run guesthouse, open all year
• International Johannes Brahms Competition
• Brahms museum in Poertschach
• World Bodypainting Festival
• Poertschach Info&News