Klagenfurt

Klagenfurt is the capital of the federal state of Carinthia in Austria. With a population of over 90,000 it is the sixth-largest city in the country. The city is the bishop's seat of the Roman-Catholic diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt and home to the Alpen-Adria University.

Klagenfurt has a typical Continental climate, with quite some fog throughout the autumn and winter. The rather cold winters are, however, broken by occasional warmer periods due to foehn wind from the Karawanken mountains to the south. The average temperature from 1961 and 1990 is 7.1 °C, while the average temperature in 2005 was 9.3 °C.

Legend has it that Klagenfurt was founded after a couple of brave men had slain the abominable dragon, a winged "Lindwurm" in the moors adjoining the lake, the staple diet of which is said to have been virgins, but which did not spurn the fat bull on a chain that the men had mounted on a strong tower. The feat is commemmorated by a grandiose 9-ton Renaissance monument in the city centre. Historically, the place was founded by the Spanheim Duke Herman as a stronghold across the commercial routes in the area. Its first mention dates from the late 12th century in a document in which Duke Ulric II. exempted St. Paul's Abbey from the toll charge "in foro Chlagenvurth". That settlement occupied an area that was subject to frequent flooding, so in 1246 Duke Herman's son, Duke Bernhard von Spanheim moved in to a safer position and is thus considered as the actual founder of the market place, which in 1252 received a city charter.

There is a civic theatre-cum-opera house with professional companies, a professional symphony orchestra, a state conservatory and concert hall; there are musical societies such as Musikverein (founded in 1826) or Mozartgemeinde, a private experimental theatre company, the State Museum , a modern art museum and the Diocesan museum of religious art; the Artists' House, two municipal and several private galleries, a planetarium in Europa Park, literary institutions such as the Robert Musil House, and a reputable German-literature competition awarding the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize.

Educations:

University of Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt campus of Technikum Kärnten, University of Applied Sciences
Pädagogische Hochschule, a college of education
Europagymnasium Völkermarkter Ring
IBG Ingeborg Bachmann
BORG Klagenfurt
ORG St. Ursula
Gymnasium Lerchenfeldstraße
Gymnasium Mössingerstraße
Music Gymnasium Viktring
Slovene-language Gymnasium
Slovene-language Commercial High School
2 commercial high schools: Handelsakademie #1 and #2
High School of Catering, Fashion and Design
School of Engineering HTL Lastenstrasse Klagenfurt
School of Engineering HTL Mössingerstraße
High School of Alpine Agriculture
Landeskonservatorium
Waldorf School
Vocational schools
College of Further Education Volkshochschule