Wurzen Pass

Wurzenpass
Col of Wurzen, from the west
Elevation	1,073 m (3,520 ft)
Traversed by	road
Location
Wurzen Pass Location of Wurzen Pass
Location	Austria / Slovenia
Range	Karawanken
Coordinates	46°31′19″N 13°45′9″E

The Wurzen Pass (German: Wurzenpass) or Korensko sedlo or simply Koren (Slovene) is a high mountain pass in a col of the Karawanken mountain range in the Southern Limestone Alps, at the border between Arnoldstein in the Austrian state of Carinthia and Kranjska Gora in Slovenia. It is named after the nearby village of Podkoren (Wurzen).

It connects the Austrian B109 Wurzenpass Straße from Villach with the Slovenian highway No. 201 to the A2 motorway and Ljubljana. Though its elevation of 1,073 m (3,520 ft) is relatively moderate, the road is very curvy and includes several steep ascents with a maximum grade of 18 percent.

Slovenian border, the stone's inscription refers to Art. "XXVII St. Germain 10. Sept. 1919"

The Wurzenpass has been a historic crossing of the Karawanken, though the main trade route from the Duchy of Carinthia to Trieste, the Austrian Littoral and Carniola ran from Tarvisio along the Predil Pass and the high valley of Rateče that was much easier to traverse. Its importance increased with the lay out of a first paved road finished in 1734. During the Cold War the Austrian Armed Forces built several defence works and bunkers along the Wurzenpass Straße which today are open to the public in the context of a documentation centre.

Until the opening of the Karawanken Motorway Tunnel in 1991, the Wurzenpass along with the eastern Loibl (Ljubelj) was one of the main arteries for traffic from Austria through former Yugoslavia, starting point of the notorious autoput highway to Greece and Turkey. As Slovenia joined the Schengen Area in 2004, border controls were abolished on 21 December 2007.

See also

• List of highest paved roads in Europe
• List of mountain passes

External links

• Bunker museum