Hohenthurn () is a municipality in the district of

Villach-Land Bezirk Villach-Land () is a district of the state of Carinthia in Austria. Municipalities Towns (''Städte'') are indicated in boldface; market towns (''Marktgemeinden'') in ''italics''; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipalit ...

in the

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 ...

n state of

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 ...

Congregation structure

Hohenthurn consists of two cadastral communities, Dreulach and Hohenthurn, which comprise a total of the following six villages: (population status January 1, 2018) Statistik Austria: Bevölkerung am 1.1.2018 nach Ortschaften (Gebietsstand 1.1.2018) * Achomitz (''Zahomec'') (90) * Draschitz (''Drašče'') (189) * Dreulach (''Drevlje'') (118) * Göriach (''Gorje'') (99) * Hohenthurn (''Straja vas'') (209) * Stossau (''Štasava'') (146)

Geography

Hohenthurn West-Ansicht mit Gailtalblick 16052017 8502

Hohenthurn is located in the valley of the

Gail Gail may refer to: People * Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name Surname * Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar * Max Gail (born 1943), American actor * Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer ...

river (''Gailtal''), near the confluence with the Gailitz tributary. The municipal area stretches on the northern slope of the

Carnic Alps The Carnic Alps (; ; ; ) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria and northeastern Italy. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Italian Friuli (Province of Udine) and marginally in Veneto. Etymology They are ...

, close to the border with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It comprises the cadastral communities of Hohenthurn proper and Dreulach (''Drevlje''). According to a 2001 census, 8.3% 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 ...

, speaking the local

Gail Valley dialect The Gail Valley dialect (, ''ziljščina''Logar, Tine. 1996. ''Dialektološke in jezikovnozgodovinske razprave''. Ljubljana: SAZU) is the westernmost Slovene dialect in the Carinthian dialect group, spoken in parts of southern Carinthia in Austri ...

History

The municipality was the site of a prehistoric

Hallstatt Hallstatt () is a small town in the district of Gmunden District, Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Sa ...

settlement as well as of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

watchtower, which is depicted in the coat of arms. Nevertheless, Hohenthurn (from German ''hoher Turm'', i.e. "high tower"), first mentioned in a 1253 deed as ''Göströsdorf'', probably derived its name from the steeple of the Gothic St. Cyriacus Church. Since the medieval

Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps The settlement of the Eastern Alps region by early Slavs took place during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. It formed part of the southward expansion of early Slavs which would result in the South Slavic group, and would ultimately result in the ethno ...

, the area is a centre of Slovene tradition and customs.

Politics

Seats in the municipal council (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2015 local elections: *

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): 5 *

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): 3 * Community Voters ('' Enotna Lista''): 2 *

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): 1

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Hohenthurn is twinned with: * Moimacco, Italy since 2006

Notable people

Matija Majar Matija Majar, also spelled Majer (7 February 1809 – 31 July 1892), pseudonym Ziljski, was a Carinthian Slovene Roman Catholic priest and political activist, best known as the creator of the idea of a United Slovenia. Biography Majar was bor ...

(1809–1892), Carinthian Slovene priest and activist, served at the parish church in the hamlet of Göriach from 1851 until 1867 * Karl Schnabl (born 1954), ski jumper

References

Cities and towns in Villach-Land District Carnic Alps {{Carinthia-geo-stub