Hohenthurn ( sl, Straja vas) 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.

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 and ...

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

Carnic Alps The Carnic Alps ( it, Alpi Carniche; german: Karnische Alpen; sl, Karnijske Alpe; fur, Alps Cjargnelis) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria and northeastern Italy. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Itali ...

, close to the border with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. 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 ( 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 ...

, speaking the local

Gail Valley dialect The Gail Valley dialect ( sl, ziljsko narečje, ''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 ...

History

The municipality was the site of a prehistoric

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of 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 Salzkammergut ...

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

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 Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

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. It is part of the southward expansion of the early Slavs which would result in the characterization of the South Slavic group, and would ultimate ...

, 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 (ÖVP): 5 * Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ): 3 * Community Voters (''

Enotna Lista The Unity List ( Slovene: ''Enotna lista'', german: Einheitsliste) 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: ), ...

''): 2 *

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"Aus ...

(FPÖ): 1

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Hohenthurn is twinned with: *

Moimacco Moimacco ( fur, Muimans) is small a town in the province of Udine, situated a few kilometres west of Cividale del Friuli, above sea level, in the north-east corner of Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Re ...

, 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 born ...

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

Karl Schnabl Karl Schnabl (born March 8, 1954 in Achomitz, community Hohenthurn, Carinthia) is an Austrian former ski jumper who competed during the 1970s. His best-known successes were at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, where he won a gold medal ...

(born 1954), ski jumper

References

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