Ferlach () in the district of

Klagenfurt-Land Bezirk Klagenfurt-Land () is a Districts of Austria, district of the States of Austria, state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia in Austria.:de:Bezirk Klagenfurt-Land Municipalities Towns (''Städte'') are indicated in boldface; market towns (''Ma ...

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

is the southernmost

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is known for its centuries-old

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

tradition, part of the Austrian

intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. In ...

since 2010.

Geography

It is situated in the ''Rosental''/''Rož'' Valley of the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

River, about south of the Carinthian state capital Klagenfurt. In the south, the crest of the

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks (; , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west direction, the Karawanks chain is o ...

mountain range forms the border with

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Ferlach (''Borovlje''), Kappel an der Drau (''Kapla ob Dravi''), Kirschentheuer (''Kožentavra''), Unterloibl (''Podljubelj''), Waidisch (''Bajdiše''), Unterferlach (''Medborovnica''), Glainach (''Glinje''), Seidolach (''Ždovlje''), and Windisch Bleiberg (''Slovenji Plajberg''). The town centre lies at the junction of the ''Rosental Straße'' (B85) highway with ''Loiblpass Straße'' (B91), part of the

European route The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Central ...

E652, running from Klagenfurt to

Tržič Tržič (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Slovenia, town in northern Slovenia, close to the Austrian border. It is the seat of the Municipality of Tržič. Geography The town is located within the historic Upper Carniola region on the Tr ...

in Slovenia via

Loibl Pass The Loibl Pass () or Ljubelj Pass () is a high mountain pass in the Karawanks chain of the Southern Limestone Alps, linking Austria with Slovenia. The Loibl Pass road is the shortest connection between the Carinthian town of Ferlach and Tržič i ...

. The Ferlach Railway line from Weizelsdorf went out of service in 1951, but on summer weekends and special occasions a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

service, the ''Rosentaler Dampfzug'' runs as far as Weizelsdorf, operated by the preservation group ''Nostalgiebahnen in Kärnten''.

History

Ferlach was first mentioned as ''Vörelach'' in a 1246 deed, named after the surrounding

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

(''Föhre'', ''bor'' in Slovene) forests. The mountainous area is the site of large

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

deposits,

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

and

forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

is documented since the 15th century. The relocation of the capital of the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (; ; ) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Car ...

to nearby Klagenfurt under the rule of King Maximilian I about 1518 decisively promoted the development of Ferlach as a centre of

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

manufacturing. Under Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

, its gunsmiths became the main

armorer Historically, an armourer is a person who makes personal armour, especially plate armour. Historically armourers were often men, but women could also undertake the occupation: for example Alice la Haubergere worked as an armourer in Cheapside i ...

s of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. Ferlach firearms were also used by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

armies. The present-day municipality was established as ''Oberferlach'' in 1850. Ferlach received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1930 and today is a centre for the production of hunting

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

s. The history of the town is depicted in its coat of arms: it features a pine tree with a cone, two crossed silver nails, and a rifle.

Population

According to the 2011 census has Ferlach 7.272 inhabitants. 8.0% of the population are

Carinthian Slovenes Carinthian Slovenes or Carinthian Slovenians (; ; ) are the Indigenous peoples, indigenous minority of Slovenes, Slovene ethnicity, living within borders of the Austrian state of Carinthia, neighboring Slovenia. Their status of the minority group ...

Climate

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2021

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

: *

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

(SPÖ): 16 *

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...

(ÖVP): 4 *

Enotna lista The Unity List ( Slovene: ''Enotna lista'', ) or EL seeks to represent the indigenous Slovene minority in Carinthia. It came into existence in 1991, replacing the "Club of Slovenian Local Councillors" (Slovene: , German: ), which had existed as ...

/Volilna skupnost: 3 *

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...

(FPÖ): 3 *

The Greens – The Green Alternative The Greens – The Green Alternative (, ) is a green political party in Austria. The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of the Schallenberg government, the Second Kurz government, and the Nehammer government. It won ...

: 1

Notable people

* Odo Josef Struger (1931–1998), engineer *

Wolfgang Petritsch Wolfgang Petritsch (born 26 August 1947) is an Austrian diplomat who served as the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999 to 2002. Early life and studies Petritsch was born to a Carinthian Slovene family in Klagenfurt; he gre ...

(born 1947), diplomat, honorary citizen

References

External links

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Klagenfurt-Land District