Pörtschach am Wörthersee

Infobox Town AT
name=Pörtschach am Wörthersee
name_local=
image_coa = Wappen at poertschach.png

state = Carinthia
regbzk =
district = Klagenfurt-Land
population =2632
population_as_of = 2005
population_ref =
pop_dens = 162
area = 16.21
elevation = 461
lat_deg=46
lat_min=38
lat_hem=N
lon_deg=14
lon_min=9
lon_hem=E
postal_code = 9210
area_code =04272
mayor = Franz Arnold
website = [http://www.poertschach.at www.poertschach.at]

Pörtschach am Wörthersee (Slovene: Poreče) is a town in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia in Austria.

It is the site of an annual tennis tournament, the Hypo Group Tennis International, which is part of the ATP Tour's International Series.

Geography

Geographical Position

Pörtschach is situated at 446 to 702 meters above mean sea level, on the northern shore of the Lake Woerth, about 14 km west of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt.

Structure of the community

The community territory is subdivided into the two cadastral communities of Poertschach at the Lake Woerth ("Poreče ob jezeru") and Sallach. Unique locality of the community is Poertschach on the Lake Woerth.

Neighbour communities

Neighbour communities
NORTH = Moosburg
WEST = Techelsberg
EAST = Krumpendorf
SOUTH = Maria Wörth

History

Pre-celtic and celtic period

Basin stones most presumably come from the stone-age which still can be seen in many parts of Carinthia. There is also one to be visited in the community territory of Poertschach. The locaction is directly by the Saint-Oswalder-street, at the cross-road with the Goritschach lane, just close to a basswood-tree with a park-bench and next to a wooden cross. During the cultic ceremony the sacrifice donation, most probably blood, was filled into the little basin hole of the rock.

Antiquity and Middle Ages

According to findings the Noric mainroad from Velden to Krumpendorf led already across the community territory in the Roman period. About in the year 600 a settlement was founded by slavic tribes, due to the onomastic („porecah“ = „at the people, who live by the brook“). In the year 1150 Poertschach was first vouched. In those days the lake castle was set up, which nowadays exempt from some skimpily wall-rests does not exist anymore.

The nearby Leonstain castle had fallen into disrepair by the later twentieth century, but it has recently benefitted from a restoration programme. Around the year 1490 the château Leonstain was erected close to Poertschach's center. Today a part of the castle has been reborn as a hotel, owned by the Neuscheller family.

Modern times

A growing tourism industry started in the mid-19th century, accelerating after the establishment of the Lake Woerth navy in 1853. Shortly after that, in 1864, Poertschach received a train-station on the new line from Vienna towards Venice: this made it a favoured tourist destination. Famous tourists from Vienna included Emperor Franz Joseph I., Gustav Mahler and Johannes Brahms who worked on his second symphony here. After the tourism boom years in Carinthia of the 1960s and 1970s, a revival in Poertschach as an events centre is under way. The goal is to develop a 'soft tourism', which is the best outlook for the future, because Pörtschach has the qualification for that: Culture ( [http://www.brahmscompetition.org International Johannes Brahms Competition] ), Nature and History.

Population

According to the population census in 2001 the community Poertschach has 2.670 inhabitants. 90,3 % own the Austrian citizenship, the biggest groups among the foreign nationalities are the Croatians (3,0 %), Germans (2,3 %) and Bosnia-Herzegovinians (1,3 %).

In matters of beliefs the biggest group are the Roman catholics (75%), 10% Protestants and 1,6% Muslims. Without confession there are about 10%.

Lake villas

The most important representant of the Lake Woerth-architecture was Franz Baumgartner. Listed below there is a selection of his pemanent producing:
* Villa Wladimir Turkovic (1913), Werftenstraße #57

* Villa Stefanie Turkovic (1913), Werftenstraße #73

Personalities

* Johannes Brahms
* Wilhelm Loisel
* Carl Ernst David Wahliss
* Georg Graber
* Josef Tichy

Literature

* "Österreichische Kunst-Topographie. (Austrian art topography) Volume I.: Herzogthum Karnten" (Dutchy Carinthia), Wien 1889, S. 284; in Commission bei Kubasta & Voigt, of the K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei.
* "DEHIO Kärnten - Topographisches Denkmälerinventar" (Topografic monument inventory), S. 636-644. Editorial Anton Schroll & Co, Wien 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X
* "Kärntner Sagen" (Carinthian sagas), a selection by Dr. Georg Graber, 1949; S. 50-52, Kärntner Heimatverlag (Carinthian homeland editorial).
* "Die Kärntner Gemeindewappen" (The Carinthian community coat of arms) by Dr. Wilhelm Deuer, S. 216-217; Klagenfurt 2006, Editorial of the Carinthian country archive, ISBN 3-900531-64-1

External links

* [http://www.poertschach.at/gemeinde/ Pörtschach on the Lake Woerth]
* [http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/austria/A21.htm English run guesthouse, open all year]
* [http://2007.brahmscompetition.org/?page_id=1&lang=en International Johannes Brahms Competition]
* [http://www.aeiou.at/br-mpo-k.htm Brahms museum in Poertschach]
* [http://www.poertschach.net/ Poertschach Info&News]

Itemisations and remarks