Wernberg ( sl, Vernberk) 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 municipality a ...

in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n state of Carinthia.

Geography

Wernberg lies on the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

River at the foot of the Ossiach Tauern range, east of

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the ...

, and between

Lake Ossiach Lake Ossiach (german: Ossiacher See, sl, Osojsko jezero) is a lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is the state's third largest lake, superseded only by Lake Wörth and Lake Millstatt. Geography It is situated in the southern Nock M ...

on the north,

Wörthersee Wörthersee (; Slovene: ''Vrbsko jezero'', en, Lake WörthTesch, F. W. 1977. ''The Eel: Biology and Management of Anguillid Eels''. Transl. Jennifer Greenwood. London: Chapman and Hall, p. 195.) is a lake in the southern Austrian state of Cari ...

on the east, and

Lake Faak Lake Faak (german: Faaker See; sl, Baško jezero) is a lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia. With an area of approximately , it is the state's fifth-largest lake. Geography The lake is located southeast of Villach in the Drava Valley, belo ...

in the southern part of the municipality. It is located at the northwestern rim of the traditional settlement area of

Carinthian Slovenes Carinthian Slovenes or Carinthian Slovenians ( sl, Koroški Slovenci; german: Kärntner Slowenen) are the indigenous minority of Slovene ethnicity, living within borders of the Austrian state of Carinthia, neighboring Slovenia. Their status of ...

. The municipal area comprises the cadastral communities of Neudorf (''Nova vas''), Sand (''Pešče''), Trabenig (''Trabenče''), Umberg (''Umbar''), and Wernberg (''Vernberk'').

Neighboring municipalities

History

Wernberg Kloster Nordportal Supraporte mit Khevenhueller Brustreliefs 16082008 44

Archaeological findings indicate an early settlement of the area already in

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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times. A castle near the village of Sternberg, today a ruin, was first mentioned in a deed issued at Saint Paul's Abbey about 1170/80. Wernberg itself first appeared in a document dated 17 November 1227 determining the demolition of a Drava bridge and the transfer of ''Werdenberch'' Castle to the Carinthian estates of the

Bishopric of Bamberg The Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg (german: Hochstift Bamberg) was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire. It goes back to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bamberg established at the 1007 synod in Frankfurt, at the behest of King Henry II ...

. The castle, situated on arock above the Drava river, was built under the rule of Duke Bernhard of Carinthia, it later passed to the Austrian

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. Held by the Khevenhüller noble family from 1519 onwards, the present-day

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

building was erected at the behest of the Carinthian governor

George Khevenhüller Georg von Khevenhüller (, also spelled as Gjuro or George Khevenhiller; 22 April 1533 – 9 September 1587) was a Duchy of Carinthia, Carinthian Austrian nobility, nobleman of the Khevenhüller dynasty. Though a dedicated Protestant Reformation, ...

(1533–1587). Part of the

Ossiach Abbey Ossiach Abbey (''Stift Ossiach'') is a former Benedictine monastery in Ossiach, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The site is one of the venues of an annual music festival called "Carinthian Summer". History In 878 the East Frankish king Car ...

estates from 1672, it is since 1935 a possession of the Catholic

Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood Franz Pfanner (1825 – 24 May 1909), also anglicised as Francis Pfanner, was an Austrian Trappist abbot and founder of Mariannhill, Mariannhill Monastery in South Africa and the Mariastern Abbey, Banja Luka, Mariastern Abbey in Banja Luka, Bosni ...

. The municipality of Wernberg was established in 1850.

Politics

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

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ): 12 *

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is curr ...

(ÖVP): 4 *

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Au ...

(FPÖ): 4 * The Greens: 2 *''Wählergemeinschaft Wernberg'' (

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

): 1

References

External links

Municipal site
Cities and towns in Villach-Land District {{Carinthia-geo-stub