Hohenthurn ( sl, Straja vas) is a municipality in the district of Villach-Land 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 Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

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, 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 re ...

. It comprises the

cadastral communities A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, ...

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 t ...

, 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 letter ...

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 ultimatel ...

, 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 (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 currentl ...

(ÖVP): 5 *

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): 3 * Community Voters ('' Enotna Lista''): 2 * Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ): 1

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Hohenthurn is twinned with: * Moimacco, Italy since 2006

Notable people

* Matija Majar (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