Klagenfurt am Wörthersee

Klagenfurt lies east of the Wörthersee in Carinthia. Founded as a stronghold on local trade routes, the settlement was moved to safer ground in 1246 after repeated flooding and received a town charter in 1252. A local legend tells of a dragon slain in the nearby marshes, a feat later commemorated by a fountain in the city centre.

Fire nearly destroyed Klagenfurt in 1514. Unable to finance its rebuilding, Emperor Maximilian I gave the city to the Carinthian Estates in 1518. The nobles made it their capital, built residences and new fortifications, and had a canal dug to carry timber from the lake and fill the moats. Italian architect Domenico dell'Allio planned an enlarged city on a regular grid with a new central square. In 1809 French troops destroyed the walls built to defend it.